Gravitated
by TheMagicalAuthor
Summary: Mabel Pines and her family move to their Great Uncle Ford's house/tourist trap; 'The Mystery Shack' in Gravity Falls. With Mabel in deep depression, Ford finds someone who he can finally relate to. But she was so broken, he didn't want her to live in this state of sadness.
1. The Arrival

_**This is an AU. I know you guys enjoy Mabel and Ford bonding fics so I decided to make an actual story with them this time. Hope you guys enjoy!**_

 _ **Summary~ Mabel Pines and her family move to their Great Uncle Ford's house/tourist trap; 'The Mystery Shack' in Gravity Falls. With Mabel in deep depression, Ford finds someone who he can finally relate to. But she was so broken, he didn't want her to live in this state. However, is it a good idea to build a bond with his niece? What troubles will occur?**_

" _ **You'd be surprised at how much you can have in common with someone completely different from you"- Unknown**_

"Wendy! Soos!" Ford called out. What he got in response was the usual agitated groan by the redheaded teenager and the heavy thumping against the wooden floors caused by his handyman's running.

"Yes Sir!" The old man rolled his eyes.

"Soos, how many times have I told you? Call me Mr. Pines"

"Yes Mr. Sir!" A response was not delivered as Ford didn't have time for useless banter.

"What's going on Mr. Pines?" Wendy asked, strolling into the gift shop with her usual green plaid shirt and navy blue pants.

Hands on his hips, he looked at both his employee's figures with a solemn expression. Soos of course was ecstatic for work as always even though this wasn't exactly an amazing job and Wendy looked the exact opposite. He could make out what seemed like bags under her eyes. This didn't make him feel sympathetic. He knew she would stay up on her phone texting her friends and watching viral videos.

Sometimes he wondered how he could have such different employee's.

"Have both of you forgotten what day it is?"

Soos shook his head from left to right while Wendy shrugged.

"Mr. Pines, today is Monday!"

"Uh…Yeah. Monday! Wait, today's Monday?"

"Ugh. You knuckleheads can't remember anything! Today's the day that my nephew and his family are coming over. For the entire summer"

"Oh yeah! Now I remember!" Wendy exclaimed.

"Yeah. You remember because I reminded you" Ford said with a grunt. A 'pfft' left the teenagers mouth.

Soos on the other hand was giddy about the arrival of the family.

"OH MAN! This is going to be the best summer ever!"

"I wouldn't say that Soos" Wendy said, pulling at the neck of her shirt.

A sigh left Ford's mouth. He wasn't all that excited about his nephew; Marshall Pines coming over to the Mystery Shack. Especially when he was bringing his family with him.

It wasn't that there was no room for them. He just didn't want them coming over…

He didn't want them coming over because he didn't want to take that risk. He couldn't possibly work with them in the house. Especially since they have a little girl.

She would be wondering around all over the place and god knows what she could accidentally stumble upon. However, aside from that; Ford didn't want them to see him in his current state.

Wendy may have had slight bags under her eyes but she should consider herself lucky since Ford had the most sleepless face ever.

The bags under his eyes were deep. Deeper than anyone could understand…

' _Shut up Stanford'_ He thought. Rubbing his temples, he thought about the high risks that there were with more people being in the Shack.

More people equaled more danger. More danger equaled more delays. More delays equaled more chances of discovery. More chances of discovery equaled….cancellation.

He shook his head, slapping himself softly.

"Um…Mr. Pines, are you okay?" Wendy asked. The contact of the redheads hand on his shoulder startled him for a moment before he recovered.

"Yes. Just…A little uncomfortable about the new civilization in the Shack. Especially since their going to be staying the entire summer" He said, playing with the edge of his beige coat.

A confused expression formed on Wendy's face. "Then…Why did you agree to take them in the Shack in the first place?" Ford groaned, slapping his forehead.

"I…don't know. Marshall asked me and I didn't want to let him down. His voice sounded hopeful. I didn't want to disappoint him"

He noticed the girl stifling a laugh, causing him to narrow his eyes and cross his arms. "What are you laughing at, young lady?"

"Since when do you care about other people's feelings?"

Unknown to the laughing teenager, a glint of shame passed in Ford's eyes but he brushed it off quickly and resorted back to his usual strict self.

"Get back to work Ms. Corduroy…" Wendy rolled her eyes but he could see a small smile on her face.

"Mr. Pines! I got some cool decorati-" Before Soos could finish his sentence, he bumped into Wendy and they both fell flat on their bottoms.

"Oh my goodness! You two can't act or do things like this when Marshall and his family come over here. Mature up a bit!"

"Your right. I'm sorry Mr. Pines" Unfortunately, Soos once again tripped and his leg caught the edge of the carpet; causing him to stumble and this time accidentally shoved Ford down on the floor.

"Ah! My back!"

"Oh no! I'm so sorry-"

Wendy pushed Soos onto Ford, giggling hard as she balanced herself against a nearby table.

"Hahaha!"

"Ugh! You're both fired!" Stanford shouted with fake aggression as he stood up.

"What?! Really. No! Please Ford…"

"Oh, for god's sake! You're not actually fired Soos! Just…Both of you! Get to work! NOW!"

"You got it Mr. Pines!" They said in unison. Although he could easily see the smirk on Wendy's face that was basically screaming lazy.

Picking up his glasses, he brushed off his coat.

"I swear to god, those knuckleheads….I don't know why I put up with them"

* * *

A scent of freshness wafted through the gift shop as Ford walked in. He took off his coat and left the red sweater on along with some clean black pants.

He didn't look fabulous. But it was still an effort.

Wendy and Soos both looked up, one of them amused and one of them in awe.

"You look fantastic Mr. Pines!" Soos said with amazement.

"Eh. Fine I guess" The redhead responded.

"Yes because you're so beautiful, right?"

"The amount of boyfriends I've had answers that question. How many girlfriends do you have? Oh yeah, none"

"Oh, of course. Dig into my love live"

"What love life?"

The sound of wheels screeching outside immediately put a halt to the sassy conversation between Ford and Wendy.

"Is that them?" Soos asked with a sparkle in his eyes.

"Probably"

The three all rushed outside.

The window rolled down and Ford could see Marshall's cheeky grin. It brought a little batch of happiness to him.

"Ford!" He exclaimed, stepping out of the car.

"Marshall!"

They shared a quick hug before Ford moved onto his wife.

"Rebecca! Haven't you grown to be quite the beautiful lady?" He said, kissing her hand.

"Since when have you become such a gentlemen?" She asked chuckling.

"Since I was born"

Marshall let out a scoff. "Yeah right"

However, all of Ford's attention averted to the car when he saw a small foot step out of the vehicle.

"And is that who I think it is?" Ford asked.

"Why yes. That's out daughter. Mabel Pines! She's quite the sweetheart, you'll see. Mabel honey! C'mon out"

At that moment, their daughter fully exited the car and Ford's eyes widened in surprise. For someone who was apparently a sweetheart, she sure looked like the exact opposite.

She was wearing a grey sweater and had bags under her eyes. Similar to his but…looked unhealthier.

Her arms were unnaturally red. Her hair was in tangles.

She was wearing something on her neck but he couldn't exactly tell what.

She looked immensely shy, walking towards Ford.

And then it hit him. "Oh…" He muttered.

Even though he hadn't met Marshall's daughter before, he did know one thing.

Their son had passed away in the hospital.

 _Her twin brother passed away._

He remembered the tragic phone call from Rebecca. The words that came out of her mouth were coated with sobs:

"Di-Dipper. Our son. He's… dead. He's gone. Stanford...He's gone"

Ford never met the boy before but he was sad nonetheless. A precious life was taken away unfairly.

Of course, their daughter wasn't going to be a bundle of sunshine knowing that her twin was dead. He understood…

"Hey there" Ford said, forcing a smile on his face. The girl looked up at him.

"Um…Hello" He winced at her voice. It sounded tired. Drained out. As if it were once filled with energy but now was completely sucked of any happiness.

"Mabel sweetie, shake his hand" Rebecca instructed.

She looked afraid as she reluctantly lifted her hand to shake his. He could see it trembling with fear.

He could see the worried look in her eyes. She looked so vulnerable. So small.

He grasped her hand delicately and shook it slowly, making sure not to alert her with any sudden movements.

She pulled her hands back quickly to her sides as he stepped back.

"Well. Let's get you three inside" He said with a fake smile.

Marshall picked his bags up as he gave Stanford a genuine grateful look.

"Thanks for letting us stay here for the summer. We really appreciate it" Ford nodded.

"No problem"

He led Marshall, Rebecca and…

"Uh, sweetie, what's your name again?"

He knew as soon as he approached Mabel, it was a bad idea. Her lips trembled as she struggled to speak.

"Hey. Calm down. Breathe in, breathe out" She wasn't listening though. The words just barely came out of her mouth.

"M-M-Mabel" She whispered. He frowned. This girl had issues. Issues that needed to be taken care of.

' _Then again, having a twin and then losing it at such a young age. Yeah…This behavior is understandable'_ he thought.

* * *

A bead of sweat formed on Stanford's forehead as he set down Marshall's luggage on the wooden floor.

He luckily planned out where they would be staying for the summer.

Marshall and Rebecca would stay in the 'guest' room. The area was big enough for all their belongings and the bed had enough room for both of them to sleep in comfortably.

"Alright you two. This is where you'll stay. And remember, no funny business alright?"

A groan escaped his nephew's mouth. "We're not going to do any funny business"

"You two enjoy your stay. But don't get too comfortable"

The two lovers laughed but a glint in Ford's eyes showed complete seriousness. He wasn't joking…

"Yeah yeah, we got it Ford" Marshall said, shooing him out of the room. "But seriously, I really do appreciate you taking us in here"

Marshall gave Ford a soft hug which he returned carelessly.

"Yeesh Marshall. Since when did you turn into such a softie?"

"Since I was born"

"Yeah right" The two shared a laugh before Marshall went back inside the room.

Turning around with an internal wince, he saw the little girl standing there with her hands behind her back.

She was looking downwards and seemed to be in deep thought.

A cough escaped the old man's lips, shaking the girl both mentally and physically.

"Um…Okay Mabel. You will be staying upstairs in the attic. Come along sweetie" He gestured towards the stairs but she didn't budge.

"Oh dear" He muttered under his breath.

Ford was a very smart person…

But if there was something he had no knowledge in, it was making contact with a child.

"Come along Mabel dear. Nothing to be afraid of" He said, grabbing her hand.

Ford felt a slap on his arm and sighed. Pulling it away from her, he got on his knees in front of Mabel.

"What's wrong?" She didn't answer.

"Nothing. Sorry for slapping your arm" She muttered, her voice cracking. She went past him and walked up the stairs. However, Ford wasn't one to let things go unnoticed by him. He could see what looked like tears surfacing up in her pupils.

Ford slowly followed behind, making sure not to make any loud noises to surprise her. He took a moment to take in her figure.

She was slumped forward. It was almost like she was incapable of standing straight.

His eyes lowered down to Mabel's hands and he saw redness on them. Very dark redness.

' _How can Marshall and Rebecca be so oblivious to a horrifying state like this?_ ' He thought.

Mabel opened the door to the attic and gasped. It was so clean and neat. But then she frowned.

A room like this would be nothing to a normal child but to her; this was equivalent to a mansion.

"So…Do you like it?" She turned around to meet the face of her Great Uncle.

"Yes" She said. It came out in a monotone manner but she was extremely happy on the inside. She could now live in an environment where it was somewhat normal.

She could see a smile appear on the old man's face but it didn't look sincere. It was one of those smiles adults gave children because they felt obligated to.

She internally scoffed. Her Great Uncle was going to be one of those people…

"Well, I guess you can start unpacking all your stuff here. Don't turn the room into a complete mess hehe" He said, scratching the back of his neck.

"I won't"

"Good" Ford said awkwardly. Stepping out of the attic, he heard the girl close the door so quietly.

A sad look spilled onto his face. This girl was so unnaturally quiet and shy. He understood the sad circumstances with her twin but…That was five years ago.

But then again; she was a child. He was an adult.

Mabel set her suitcase on the bed that was on the right side of the room.

The first thing she did was pull out a photo incased within a golden portrait.

"I miss you so much Dipper…" She said, on the verge of tears. The photo had her smiling wide, her fingers stretching her mouth to make it wider while Dipper put bunny ears over her head. That photo was taken when they were 7 years old…

And 7 years old was the exact age where Dipper died. She silently cried, holding the portrait to her chest.

Night time had come and Mabel refused to eat dinner downstairs. She heard her parents saying she liked eating in the comfort of her own room.

She didn't know how or why her parents were so optimistic when one of their children were dead. Don't they know that when one twin dies, the other twin dies as well?

She may have still been alive but her personality was dead. Now she had no personality. Now she was a _**nobody.**_

Her dinner was a plate of spaghetti which she ate with the portrait of her and Dipper.

She pretended as if Dipper was there, making fun of her for eating spaghetti in such a messy manner.

And when it was time to sleep, she hugged the portrait tightly. She imagined it was Dipper in her arms, mumbling dork words in his sleep.

Picking up her necklace, she kissed it tenderly and for the first time throughout the entire day smiled.

The necklace was the 'Big Dipper' constellation. She wanted to buy it for so long for her brother but her parents wouldn't agree with 'wasting money' on something useless.

Ironically, when they finally did buy it for her; Dipper was gone. So now she was the one wearing it instead of him. That night, she quietly cried.

Downstairs, Ford was sneakily walking towards the gift shop. He stood still as he looked at the machine in front of him.

"Not tonight" He said glumly as he walked into his room.

He fell down on the couch and closed his eyes but knew that sleep would not come to him.

Of course every night was sleepless but this night was more uneasy than others.

Mabel kept popping into his mind.

On one hand, he was glad that she wasn't one of those kids who invaded privacy and tried to explore everything. That would have caused absolute mayhem.

But he didn't want a child who was emotionally and physically unstable. She looked so lifeless…

' _Just like you'_ his conscious bitterly retorted.

With a grunt, he closed his eyes and felt somewhat of a slumber creeping up on him. But as he slightly dozed off, he could hear faint sounds of cackling laughter fill his head.

 _ **NZYVO KRMVH RH HGFXP RM Z SZOO DRGS WZIP WLLIH**_

 _ **NZIHSZOO ZMW IVYVXXZ KRMVH ZIV LYORERLFH GL VEVIBGSRMT**_

 _ **ULIW KRMVH RHM'G ORPRMT SRH MRVXV'H ULIN**_

 _ **HLLH ZWNRIVH HGZMULIW ZMW DVMWB ORPVH GL GZFMG SRN**_

 _ **Yes. Dipper is dead. I know, I know. But things get better. And one thing I want to say is that this story will begin softly. However, lots of angst and drama will appear later on. Also, Mabel and Ford fluff will happen of course but I want to approach that in a precious and anticipating matter. Expect these first few chapters to have humor, a little drama and some angsty moments but nothing too extreme. I will indeed be leaving ciphers at the end of every chapter. For those who want to solve it, go ahead! I encourage you to try crack the code! For those of you who don't want to solve it, that's fine. You don't have to. Some of the cipher's will be important though. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this first chapter!**_


	2. Bad Morning

_**The second chapter is now up! These first few chapters won't be super eventful but that's because I'm laying out the plot of this fic step by step.**_

 _ **Summary~ Mabel Pines and her family move to their Great Uncle Ford's house/tourist trap; 'The Mystery Shack' in Gravity Falls. With Mabel in deep depression, Ford finds someone who he can finally relate to. But she was so broken, he didn't want her to live in this state. However, is it a good idea to build a bond with his niece? What troubles will occur?**_

 _ **"You'd be surprised at how much you can have in common with someone completely different from you"- Unknown**_

 _The sound of little droplets of water hitting the concrete ground filled Mabel's ears._

 _Today's weather called for showers in the afternoon. Turns out it was much worse than showers._

 _A thunderstorm had taken place. Anyone who had plans to go outside immediately retreated back to their homes due to the destruction the storm had caused._

 _Mabel however simply stood still on the muddy field. Her entire body was numb. She didn't feel anything. The stream of blood strolling down from her mouth to her chest…_

 _Nothing. She felt nothing. She didn't feel like a human._

 _She felt like a doll. A doll that little children would throw around and rip apart for fun._

 _But she couldn't compare herself to a doll._

 _She was much weaker. Her skin was softer than any stuffed animal on the planet._

 _Her hair was messier than any junkyard that existed._

 _Her eyes were more lifeless than a corpse._

 _She could feel her heart beating rapidly as her hand raised and touched the stone grave resting carelessly on the grass in front of her._

 _She brushed off the dirt covering it and looked at the words written there._

' _Here lies Dipper Pines; 2000-2007'_

 _Her pupils lowered down to the eleven words underneath that was written in all capitals._

' _BELOVED SON OF MARSHALL AND REBECCA PINES AND BROTHER OF CUNT SISTER MABEL PINES'_

 _Her mouth changed to a bitter smile._

" _I am a cunt, aren't I?"_

 _She brushed her hand against the sleeves of her red sweater._

" _I don't deserve to live. I should be the dead body rotting underneath soil. Not you Dipper. Everyone misses you…Dad and mom miss you. Marshall drowns himself in depression every night and Rebecca struggles to do any work due to your absence. You were such a rare and kind human being. As for me; I'm just a jerk. Underneath all the innocence and cuteness, I'm a cunt. Just like the grave says. I'm a disgusting cunt that needs to get the air in my lungs wheezed out with a hard blow to my stomach. I'm a mistake Dipper. I'm an ugly mistake"_

 _Tears began to flow from her eyes._

" _Life is so hard without you Dipping sauce. Dad and mom hide their feelings about you and act as if you never existed. They always reassure me that everything will be fine. But their lying. I know that their suffering just like me…But they keep it all on the inside. They smile, laugh and act as if they were a picture perfect family. All they care about is the 'image'. They want to look like a perfect family. They want me to be a perfect girl. But I'm not a perfect girl. And I'll never be one. At least not without you by my side"_

 _It was completely quiet until she stomped on the ground, mud splattering everywhere. "I need you Dipper! I can't do anything if you're not with me! It's not fair!" She broke down, her hands furiously rubbing at the corner of her eyes in a way to prevent tears from streaking down her face. Every single minute that passed felt like an hour as she stood there, the water pouring from her eyes blending with the rain. She felt her entire body shiver as the weather got colder._

" _Rest in peace Dipper. You're an angel" She whispered gently._

 _As the storm picked up and the wind became stronger, she felt her hands almost robotically taking the knife that was resting in the pocket of her torn up pants._

 _She picked it up and aimed it at her chest._

" _I'm sorry Dipper. I can't come to see how you're doing. You're in heaven. And I'll be going somewhere else. Hell. I'm going to hell Dipper. But I promise I'll meet you soon. Someday Dipstick. Someday…"_

 _Her hands shook as she balanced the knife directly where her heart laid._

 _She forcefully stabbed herself and let out a piercing scream. Falling to her knees, she kissed the grave before letting death take her into its grasp…_

* * *

Mabel woke up with a gasp, as if she were drowning.

' _Just another nightmare'_ she thought. It all felt so real.

She hugged her knees tightly as the sound of birds chirping filled the eerie silence in her room.

A quick glance at the clock set on the wooden table next to her bed showed that it was seven o' clock.

A sigh escaped her lips. She kissed her Big Dipper necklace in search of comfort.

The portrait next to her was delicately picked up and set softly on the table.

Why? That's all she wondered. Why was fate so cruel to her? Why couldn't she just live a normal life?

"Well, I guess I should be grateful for living in a room where it's clean for once" She mumbled. Back at California Piedmont, her room was an unadulterated mess.

Not that she was a clean freak but with her, things tended to be organized and kept in proper spaces.

That is until her twin died. After that, keeping things in order was the least of her worries. Not to mention her parents wouldn't ever help her out with sorting her- _their_ room.

Leaping out of bed, she looked out the window (Which she noticed had the design of a triangular figure with one eye. Strange). The sun was just rising and the clouds in the sky separated, showing a clear and beautiful blue sky.

She walked into the bathroom and turned on the sink.

"Ow!" The hot water burned her skin.

Her arm automatically pulled away.

She noticed the smoke that was coming from the sink had vanished.

Curiosity took over her senses as her hands went to feel the water.

It was now cold.

"Great. A sink that switches water back and forth at random times. How fantastic" She muttered sarcastically.

The cold water sent chills down her veins. It woke her up fully and any little fragment of sleep within her body had now perished.

She cupped her hands together and let the freezing liquid fill the gap between her palms before splashing it harshly on her face.

It shocked her at first. Her figure remained in the exact same spot for a good minute before finally mustering up the strength to grab a nearby towel and wash her countenance.

One look in the mirror and she turbulently looked away.

"Ugly cunt" She thought. Making sure not to make any contact with the mirror, she used her fingers to detect the tube of toothpaste.

After a few seconds she succeeded and proceeded to brush her teeth along with the other casual morning routines.

She changed out of her purple sleeping garment to a dark purple sweater.

She noticed there were no movements or noises sounding throughout the Shack so she went downstairs in a quiet state.

' _Everybody's probably still sleeping'_ she thought.

Mabel stood corrected as she came across the sight of her Great Uncle Ford sitting at the round table, eating a bowl of cereal.

* * *

Ford had woken up at four o' clock in the morning. Obviously, sleep wasn't working for him so he resorted to science.

He tried to finish off a few of his inventions that were yet to be completed.

That didn't work out.

He tried listening to some relaxing music that could possibly soothe him back to sleep.

That simply amplified the sleeplessness within him.

The only option left was for him to return to his 'real work' but that was too risky. And he didn't even have all the components yet to finish that enterprise. He wasn't sure if he was ever going to have all the components for that particular mission.

The entire night was spent rereading the red journals he wrote decades ago. _Or at least rereading the two journals he had in his possession._ They were still fun to read and every single page, he could recall a memory. Although they weren't exactly pleasant to remember.

But not even the journals could give him some comfort. And as if to add more fuel to the fire; he couldn't satisfactorily skim through the books since the third one was missing!

Ironically, when the sun started to rise; he finally felt sleep seep into his pores.

But there was no point in wasting time laying on bed and dreaming about useless things.

He was going to be productive this morning.

He left the couch he called a bed and decided he would go straight into work. He had one invention which had yet to be worked on. And it was relatively important. This invention wasn't made to boost his own ego; it was made so that the Shack would be safe.

Any strange organisms around the house; whether Biotic or Abiotic would be detected in a heartbeat.

Walking in the kitchen, his sight was locked on coffee.

"Hmm. Perhaps I should go for something healthier" He whispered to himself. Coffee wasn't looking like something that he's want to drink today. Not to mention the caffeine within it.

Cereal looked like it would do. Whole wheat cereal that is.

While pouring the milk into the white bowl, he could've sworn he heard someone gasp ponderously.

But it was shrugged off. He figured it was his mind playing games with him.

As he sat down to eat his cereal, he could hear someone walking down the stairs.

Ford raised an eyebrow. The attic was upstairs and the only person who lived upstairs was-

He gulped. Mabel.

The bowl of cereal suddenly became interesting as she made her way into the kitchen.

A glance up at the girl showed Ford that she was still nervous and scared. She looked exactly how she did yesterday but this time, there was something different about her. She seemed shaken.

The old man internally sighed. This girl was so decrepit it was unbelievable.

He gave a smile that Mabel could see right through.

' _Fake'_ she thought.

"Uh…Sir, can I eat something?"

Stanford felt his heart sting. She was so fragile. It looked as if one hurtful term would break her to little pieces.

She spoke so quietly. The fearfulness in her voice was crystal clear to Ford. She was scared of asking for breakfast…

"Of course you can eat something sweetie. And please don't call me sir, just call me Great Uncle Ford. Here, let's make you breakfast" He got up to prepare a bowl of cereal but she cut him off before he could even get two feet away from his seat.

"No! It's okay. I-I can make it myself" The man cringed at how hoarse her voice sounded when speaking loud.

"Now Mabel, you don't need to-"

"You-you don't have to do it. I can make it by my…by myself" Mabel's voice cracked every few seconds. She was set on doing it by herself. She didn't want someone else to do it for her. She didn't deserve that type of treatment…

Ford let out a frustrated sigh. There really was no point in arguing with this girl. He could see the determination in her eyes. She really wasn't going to let up…

"Alright kiddo. Go ahead. Just be careful. We don't need milk spilling on every platform. The bowls are in the cabinet on the left corner" He watched Mabel hurriedly walk over to the cabinet before pulling out a light red vessel.

Mabel's mind was exploding with anxiety. If she made a mess or broke something, Ford would unleash a string of hateful words. He would be super angry. The possible scenarios of what Ford could say to her if something went wrong;

" _Ugh! Look what you did! Spilled milk all over my damn sweater…Shame on you! Bad girl"_

" _You moron! Making cereal is such an easy task that anyone in the entire world can do. But here you are, standing there like an idiot; expecting me to clean up the mess!"_

" _WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST TELL YOU?! BE CAREFUL! That's what I told you! But it looks like those two words didn't go through your ears! You imbecile, come here-_ _ **SMACK"**_

A whimper escaped Mabel's mouth.

"Mabel? Are you okay?" Ford asked. His voice was laced with genuine concern. She was letting the contents of the cereal flow within the bowl but a noise of discomfort left her lips with no explanation.

"Yes" A voice crack. That's all Ford needed to know in order for him to determine whether she was doing well or not.

He noticed her hands wobbling a she poured the milk in the bowl.

For a second, it had seemed that milk would disgorge everywhere but Mabel tightened her grip on the jug.

' _Mabel, you stupid klutz. You almost dropped the milk everywhere, get a hold of yourself!'_

After what seemed like an eternity, her breakfast was now finished. On the circular table laid a bowl of cereal.

She felt ashamed. Such a simple process that she had managed to prolong.

The two sat there in pure muteness, the only sounds being their spoons clashing against the edge of the bowl.

Mabel's eyes darted over to Ford's hands and she felt interest pique her facial features.

A cough from her mouth garnered the attention of her Great Uncle.

"You-you have six fingers. W-Why? No-Not that it's a bad thing but…Uh…" Mabel stammered as her cheeks became red.

"Whoa…Take it easy there. And yes…I do have six fingers. I-I've come to accept them even though they are….They are a little weird. But, certain people have shown me to be proud of them" Mabel noticed the embarrassment that was leaking from his voice. She didn't say anything else on the matter.

Ford glanced at his hands and back at the girl. She didn't say anything and instead returned to slushing the milk in her cereal.

He wasn't sure whether to be glad or not. On one hand, it was a relief that she hadn't made any rude comments about his six fingered abnormality but…He wanted her to talk more. He wanted her to be a little livelier.

However, he couldn't build up the strength to say anything. His mouth sealed shut as he analyzed her features up close this time.

' _Dear god'._ Those were the only words that were clouding his mind right now.

He still couldn't find himself saying anything. He felt bad. He could say something of assurance or cheer her up but he didn't.

To be honest though, it didn't exactly look like she wanted to hear anything from him.

The two were alarmed when a loud yawn could be heard.

However, Ford rolled his eyes few seconds after. It was just Marshall. Good ol' lazy Marshall.

"Ah. My daughter and Great Uncle hanging out together. Brings a tear to my eye!"

"We were just eating breakfast Marshall. Eating in peacefulness until your loud behind entered.

"Pfft. Don't act like you don't love me Ford"

"What are you doing up now anyway? Shouldn't you be sleeping until nine? Like you always do?" Ford retorted with a smirk on his face.

Marshall let out an annoyed grunt. "Well, I woke up and decided to check my phone and wablamo! I saw this!" He shoved the phone in front of Ford's face.

Stanford however, did not catch on what message his nephew was trying to send here.

"What's so fascinating Marshall? I don't understand"

"Yeesh Ford. You don't know anything, do you?"

"I know everything"

"Yeah right" Rebecca mumbled tiredly, walking into the room.

Ford looked back and forth between the two, not understanding anything they were saying. Mabel didn't say anything and quietly ate her cereal.

"Can you two please elaborate on what you saw on your phone that was so amazing?"

"We saw that here in Gravity Falls, there's a little carnival going on near Greasy's diner. We figured that it would be a good way to introduce ourselves to the people of this town" Rebecca explained.

Ford raised an eyebrow. "Alright then…Just don't go wandering off in the woods"

Marshall chuckled. "Why not?"

"Just trust me…Don't"

"Alright, alright. Anyways, Mabel sweetie; we were wondering if you wanted to come"

All the attention averted to Mabel. Ford could see the frightened glint in her eyes.

"Um…I…uh" Mabel felt her body start trembling helplessly.

Ford watched the unpleasant situation. He wanted to help the girl but found his mouth empty when he opened it.

Marshall rushed over to his daughter and patter her on the back. Rebecca followed suit and Stanford watched confusedly as they all spoke in some weird sign language.

Mabel soon calmed down but she still looked shaken and…Scared?

What was she scared of?

"Alright…Well, Mabel will be staying at the Shack" Said Rebecca.

The parents left the room leaving Ford both worried and incredibly tumultuous.

"Are you okay?" He asked, getting out of his seat to comfort his niece. However, she got out of her chair, making a screeching noise against the wooden floor as she held her hands up in front of her chest.

"N-No. I'm fine" She covered her eyes and returned back to the attic. He frowned at the stairs.

But that frown soon turned into a glare. What was up with this girl?

He wasn't mad with or at her. He couldn't be. She lost her twin…Of course she's not going to be a basket of flowers.

But this was abnormal. She ran away from Ford as if he were trying to hurt her when in reality he was simply going to calm her down.

A part of him was mad at Marshall and Rebecca for not telling him exactly what was up with her. But he knew that they weren't doing anything wrong.

He was mad…He was mad because this girl was afraid of her own family!

Or at least that's what it visually implies. He may have been overlooking this entire thing.

"Hmm. Whatever, better not spend an eternity standing here. The shack will be opening soon"

* * *

Ford stood impatiently in front of the door to the gift shop.

"C'mon Wendy and Soos, god damn it! Unacceptable" He harshly muttered. It was past eight o' clock. The Shack was opening in a few minutes and he could see loads of tourists exit multiple buses outside the window of the Shack.

"Ford! We're heading out" Yelled Marshall.

"Yeah, yeah. Try not to scare anyone away with your horrifying face"

"Haha! Good one Ford. But I mean, let's be honest. I'm handsome, right Rebecca?"

"I didn't marry you for your looks sweetheart"

"Aw fiddlepants!"

Ford softly chuckled at the pair as they made their way out to the carnival.

Finally, his two employees walked through the door. Soos was panting heavily while Wendy looked bored as ever.

"You two are twenty-six minutes late! Absolutely unacceptable!"

"I'm so sorry Mr. Pines. I was helping Abuelita clean out the house and I was so into it that I forgot about the Shack!"

Ford's face softened. He knew Soos's grandma was slightly sick so it was understandable she would need help cleaning around.

However, his face turned as hard as stone when he turned towards the teenager.

"What about you?"

Wendy let out an annoyed sigh, shoving the phone back in her pocket.

"I was doing….like, stuff…"

"Oh wow! Such detail Ms. Corduroy" Wendy groaned.

"I was…making a little thing for the girl, okay?"

"The girl?" Soos and Ford asked in unison.

"Yeah. Mabel. I…She didn't look to good yesterday so I wanted to make her a special something. Its right here" She said, pulling out a small golden gift box from her pocket.

"What's that?"

"It's a rainbow bracelet"

Ford still felt angry at his redheaded employee but was also a bit grateful. Perhaps this small gift will lighten her spirits up a bit.

He took the box out of her hands.

"Okay, well….Your both off the hook but no more coming in late next time! I'll go give this to Mabel" He said, a little hope lingering in his heart. Just his niece's face brightening up at the gift would be enough for him.

"Are you going to take credit for the gift I made?" Wendy asked in amusement.

"What!? No…I'll tell her you made it"

"Good" Wendy said threateningly. However, Ford rolled his eyes.

"Don't forget Corduroy, I can fire you anytime I want"

"Cool stuff"

' _Damn you Wendy and your incredible superpower of remaining super calm in every single situation ever!'_ Ford thought jealously. If only he could be more smooth and chill like her.

"Well…Get to work!" Stanford flipped the closed sign to open and the tourists sped up the Shack in a heartbeat.

"Yes sir!" Soos yelled.

"Mr. Pines Soos. Call me Mr. Pines"

"Of course sir! I mean…uhm…Mr. Pines"

"Ugh…"

Ford walked up the stairs, feeling a little giddy about the present Wendy had crafted.

He didn't know why he was feeling so happy. He only felt this way when he finished an experiment or found a new anomaly.

He stopped in front of the attic door and pressed his ear to it for any sounds…

Nothing. He wasn't sure how to feel about that.

He knocked on the door and heard slow footsteps heading towards the door.

Mabel had pulled her sweater over her head and paid a little visit to sweater town but the knock on her door made that visit short.

She was nervous. Her hands tingled as she slowly pulled the door open.

Her Great Uncle Ford stood there with a smile on his face.

However, this one looked real. Not fake like the other ones.

"Uh…H-Hi"

"Hey. So, Wendy; the redhead from yesterday, made a gift for you" He said, handing over the golden box.

She looked at it unsurely before opening it.

A rainbow bracelet…

* * *

 _Mabel was sitting down on the green carpet, knitting herself a new sweater. It was a blue one with red stars on it._

 _However, she was interrupted by the calling of her name._

" _Mabel! Mabel!"_

 _She sighed, putting down her knitting needles and fabric before heading over to the source of sound._

 _Right there in front of her was Dipper who was wearing one of the biggest smiles she'd ever seen._

" _What's up bro-bro?"_

" _I made you something!" He said, handing over a red box to her._

" _Ooh! I love presents!" She said, grabbing the box and ripping apart the wrapping._

 _When she took the lid off, in front of her eyes laid a rainbow bracelet with the words 'Dipper and Mabel'._

 _She gasped. "Dipper! This is so cool! Thank you so much!" She said, hugging her brother._

" _No problem. Wear it! I want to see how it looks on you!"_

 _She slid the bracelet down her wrist and giggled._

" _It's perfect" They both whispered. Dipper then stared at her with a little blush on his cheeks._

" _Awkward sibling hug?" Dipper sheepishly asked._

 _Mabel felt a big smile cover her facial expressions. "AW! You don't have to be embarrassed Dipper! Awkward sibling hug!" They both wrapped their arms around each other._

* * *

Mabel bit her lip in an attempt not to cry.

Ford frowned at this. She didn't look happy at all. In fact, she looked sad.

"Do you like it?"

He saw wetness in her eyes which caused his frown to grow more.

"Ye-yeah. It's…Uh, I…Ca-can I have a little privacy please?" She asked, her voice cracking with every word.

For a second, Ford wanted to say no. He wanted to talk with his niece. He wanted to know what happened with her. He wanted to know honestly everything.

But he backed off. "Uh…Yes, absolutely. I…Call me upstairs if you need anything" He said, walking out of the room.

He exited the attic and heard Mabel lock the door before the sounds of sniffling and little whimpers occurred.

Ford felt his heart break. He wanted to help his niece but…As much as he hated to say it;

She looked unfixable.

He put his hands in the pocket of his trench coat before heading downstairs.

Mabel set the bracelet on the table and hugged the portrait of her and Dipper tightly.

Incredibly tightly.

The pillow absorbed her tears.

' _You're so weak Mabel! Dipper's gone! Get over it! That girl gave you a gift and you didn't even say thank you! You stupid…Ugh! Why can't you just be normal? Why can't you be less of a drama queen? You over dramatic cunt!'_

Her mind and her heart battled each other meanwhile she herself simply cried.

Maybe, just maybe….She was unfixable.

 _ **WVKIVHHRLM RHM'G Z TLLW GSRMT**_

 _ **KVLKOV HSLFOW YV SZKKB ZMW OREVOB**_

 _ **YFG RG'H MLG VZHB GL WL GSZG**_

 _ **DSVM WVVK WLDM RMHRWV BLF'IV HOLDOB WBRMT**_

 _ **Did I make you cry? Good. If you didn't, then….Congrats! You're a tough son of a Bill! Anyways, of course leave a review and favorite the story if you're enjoying it. Feel free to leave any criticism in your review!**_


	3. A Hopeful Letter

_**Before you get on to the actual chapter, there's something that you all should know…**_

 _ **I'm an idiot. Let me explain in a more understandable and clear matter;**_

 _ **The person DragoncatKHfan pointed out an error in my story that shows how ignorant I am when it comes to family member terms.**_

 _ **Ford is Mabel's Great Uncle but he and Marshall are brothers. Marshall is Mabel's father so….Yeah, that doesn't make any sense. I've gone back and changed any mentions of brother to nephew. This doesn't leave a huge dent in the plot. In fact, it doesn't affect the story whatsoever. You don't have to read the first two chapters again because I really didn't change anything other than Marshall and Ford being brothers.**_

 _ **Honestly, I had the idea that Marshall would be a super young brother to Ford. Ford would be in his sixties and Marshall would be in his thirties but…Scrap that. This entire thing really was just a small mess. In short words; Ford is Marshall's uncle and Marshall is his nephew. Clear? Clear.**_

 _ **Anyways, here is the third chapter!**_

 _ **Summary~**_ _**Mabel Pines and her family move to their Great Uncle Ford's house/tourist trap; 'The Mystery Shack' in Gravity Falls. With Mabel in deep depression, Ford finds someone who he can finally relate to. But she was so broken, he didn't want her to live in this state. However, is it a good idea to build a bond with his niece? What troubles will occur?**_

 _ **"You'd be surprised at how much you can have in common with someone completely different from you"- Unknown**_

"C'mon…C'mon….Ugh!" Ford let out a groan of frustration.

He had spent about two hours all locked up in his room, all of his focus centered on the steel machinery in front of him.

Ford leaned back in his black chair, exasperated with how things were currently going.

Marshall and Rebecca were still outside. Wendy was working the cash register while Soos was leading the tourists around the Shack, showing off the obviously fake merchandise that the gift shop had to offer.

He had been working on finishing off a previous invention that he had left uncompleted for weeks now.

Clearly, he was doing something wrong. He just didn't know what.

His mission was going miserably and he wasn't feeling enthusiastic about spending another lifetime sitting down, trying to make sense of this complication in front of him.

As soon as he stood up, he regretted the action.

' _Ow. My butt. Damn it…'_

He shook his arms and legs out to get some feeling of liveliness back into his nerves.

Nope. Didn't work.

"Perhaps now would be a good time to go for coffee" He muttered to himself.

It wasn't the healthiest drink he could have but screw it, he was tired and needed energy. And taking a little nap wouldn't restore any stamina in his body. If anything, it would reduce it to a lower level.

Stepping out of his room, a scent of maple syrup filled his nostrils.

Either someone was cooking something or he suddenly developed a weird disorder that makes him smell particular foods or drinks.

His feet carried him to the kitchen where he saw Soos setting two pancakes down on a white plate.

The syrup that was sprawled on the pancakes although a bit messy could easily be seen as a smiley face.

He felt his stomach growl which alerted his handyman.

"Oh! Hey Mr. Pines" He said cheerfully.

Ford however looked confused as Soos started to pour orange juice into a green colored glass.

"Um…Soos, what's the meaning of this?" He asked.

"Business in the Shack has slowed down a bit. There are less tourists so Wendy decided to take over for me"

"Then who's working the register?"

"Wendy"

"She's doing two jobs at once? Wow…She can barely do one. But I still don't understand"

"Well, I thought it would be a good idea to make something for Mabel so I turned towards pancakes. Wendy agreed to take over my shift while still maintaining hers. A lot of time has passed since breakfast and she hasn't eaten anything since then so she's probably starving. Plus, she doesn't look too good. Her mood seems to be dampened so maybe these smiley pancakes will cheer her up!"

Ford frowned. He knew Soos was simply trying to help but judging by Mabel's behavior today, he doubted that her spirits would be lifted by a platter of food.

But it had been quite a while since she had eaten breakfast. Come to think of it, it had been quite a while since he had even eaten anything.

He grabbed a quick banana from the basket of fruits next to the refrigerator before patting Soos's shoulder.

"You're a good man Soos…Or man child, I don't know. But, try to be a little gentle when giving her the food alright. She doesn't look like a happy camper so I don't think she'll be up for your, erm, Soosiness"

"Sure thing Mr. Pines!" He said, leaving the kitchen to walk up to the attic.

Stanford was about to peel the yellow skin off of the banana when he realized something.

' _I came here for coffee! The banana can wait!'_

He put the fruit back from where he picked it up and began making himself a cup of coffee.

His mind wavered as he thought about his niece.

Everything he did or everywhere he went, she lingered around in the back of his head. He wanted to help her so badly but how he would convince her to go see a therapist was beyond him.

He could just try talking to her but looking back at all the interactions they had, that idea would probably plunge straight into the ground.

Scared, nervous, tired, shaken etc.

These were all the traits he noticed Mabel was carrying on her shoulder. Some he could tell by her emotional state while others were easily found by just looking at her.

But he was going to help his niece. No doubt. He wasn't going to let her suffer like this. He knew how she felt.

 _He'd been there before._

Soos hummed a soft tune as he went up the staircase.

He stopped at the attic door and heard a few sniffles but nothing else.

"Poor girl" He thought sadly. His knuckles rapped against the door which elicited a surprised gasp.

"Who's there?"

She was just barely audible. If it wasn't for Soos pressing his ear up to the door, he wouldn't have heard a thing.

"Um…It's me dudette. Soos. You know, the guy with the green shirt and cap you met yesterday. Anyway, I brought you some food. Figured you might be starving…"

An awkward silence passed on.

"Put it on the floor outside please"

He frowned. He would've much preferred to hand it over in person but he didn't want to start a scene or put the girl in an uncomfortable situation.

He set the plate and glass on the wooden floor before backing up. "It's on the ground. Uh…Hope you like it" Soos said glumly before leaving, his hands stuck in his pockets.

Mabel left sweater town to go see if there was an actual plate of food out her door or if it was just a cruel joke.

She looked out her room and right there on the floor was a plate of pancakes along with a glass of orange juice.

Tears pricked at her eyes and she slapped herself for being so weak.

"It's just food Mabel! Stop being such a baby!" She roughly whispered.

The plate and glass was taken inside. Mabel ate the pancakes in a hurry, as if she was afraid they were going to disappear. However, she stopped as soon as she felt water trickle down her cheek.

* * *

 _Dipper let out a whiny groan as the ray of sunlight fell on his face. He kicked off his blankets in annoyance and glared at the window to his room. However, his glare soon turned into a smile as he saw his sister sleeping safe and sound on the other side of the room._

 _He walked over to her bed and poked her cheek in an attempt to determine whether she was in a deep sleep or on the verge of waking up._

" _Deep sleep it is!" He whisper yelled. He glanced over at the clock. It was eight o' clock._

 _He went downstairs and walked into the kitchen. His parents weren't there._

 _He raised an eyebrow. Were they still asleep?_

" _Oh! I know! They went outside for grocery shopping! They said that last night!" Parents leaving a pair of six year olds at alone would be considered bad parenting but Dipper had argued that he and Mabel were mature enough to handle staying by themselves._

 _The only reason he wanted them to leave him and his twin sister at home was because he was preparing a surprise breakfast for Mabel._

 _His parents had specifically told him to stay away from the oven or microwave. They didn't want any food catastrophe happening._

 _However, he ignored them. He was going to make Mabel breakfast no matter what!_

 _He grabbed the box of pancakes that was set on black shelf in next to the microwave before opening it up._

 _Dipper was smarter than most six year olds. He had observed how his parents used the oven and he had even read it up himself._

" _I've got this under control…" He muttered cockily._

 _He set out two pancakes in front of him on a white platter._

" _One for me! One for Mabel!"_

 _He then turned on the oven and read the instructions written on the back of the box._

 _Following suit, everything was going fine. He made sure the pancakes didn't burn, flipping them appropriately._

 _Sadly, one of the pancakes had burnt. Dipper frowned. To be fair though, it was his first time ever using an oven. He looked at the one burnt pancake and the one clean pancake._

" _I'll take the burnt one and I'll give the clean one to Mabel!" Problem solved. This breakfast was for her after all._

 _He took the two pancakes and set them both on separate plates. Something was missing though. He couldn't tell what…_

" _Maple syrup!" He rummaged through the fridge, drastically looking for the bottle. When he finally found it, he made a smiley face on both pancakes._

" _There we go! A bit messy though…" He said. He took some syrup off with his fingers and licked it._

" _Tasty! Still bummed mine got burnt though…Whatever. Now we just need drinks!" His original plan was to go with a cup of soda but…That wouldn't really fit with pancakes._

 _So instead he grabbed a carton of orange juice. He poured the contents of it into two separate glasses._

" _Ah! The perfect breakfast" He said with confidence. He took both plates to the dining table and followed with the two drinks. He quickly ran upstairs to see how his sister Mabel was doing. She wasn't in bed. He rubbed his chin in curiosity but was startled to hear a door open behind him._

" _Hey Dipdop" Mabel said chirpily although the sleepiness in her voice was clear._

" _Did you brush your teeth?" She nodded._

 _Dipper ran past her and turned around at the last second._

" _Hey Mabel! You suck!" He yelled in a rough voice. He internally smiled as Mabel gasped. His plan was going perfect._

" _Oh no you don't! Come back here!" She chased him all the way to the table where he set up their breakfast._

 _Mabel stopped in confusion. She looked to Dipper for answers but saw a smile on his face._

" _Tada!"_

 _She still didn't get what was happening._

" _Who made this?" She asked, clearly curious. Mom and dad went outside for grocery shopping. They couldn't have. And if they made them, then they would be cold by now since they left for the grocery store an hour ago._

" _I made it! It's a surprise breakfast! I burnt one pancake though. But I'll eat that one. You can eat the non-burnt one. Do you like it?"_

 _Dipper didn't get any answer. He looked down at the floor. "This was stupid, wasn't it?" However, this time he got a bone crushing hug from his sister._

" _Thank you so much! I'm starving!" She said, pulling out a chair and eating away._

 _She frowned when she saw Dipper eating the burnt pancake. "Hey silly. You don't have to eat that. We'll share mine"_

 _She saw her brother smile. That heartwarming smile that made her feel accomplished on the inside. He sat beside her and they both laughed as they shared the pancake and downed their glasses orange juice._

* * *

Mabel's bottom lip quivered as she continued to eat.

Soos strolled through the kitchen, bent over in disappointment.

Ford looked up to see his employees figure and could tell straight away that the encounter did not go well.

"What happened Soos?" He knew what the answer was going to be but still wanted to hear how it went.

"She didn't even open the door…I set the plate outside for her to pick up"

Ford rubbed his temples out of misery. She didn't even want to show herself.

What a disaster….

"It's okay Soos. You tried. She's probably just shy or in a bad position"

He watched the man gloomily walk back to the gift shop.

Ford cracked his knuckles before heading towards the staircase.

He wanted to see if his niece had picked up the food.

Thankfully, he saw that there was no plate in front of the door, signaling that she had taken it inside.

He pressed his ear to the door and heard sounds of chewing.

A smile shaped on his face.

He was going to knock and see if she would respond. He needed to see how she was doing.

He raised his hand but a voice from downstairs cut him off.

"We're back!"

Ford grunted. Of all the times for his nephew and wife to return, it had to be right before he checked up on his niece. Of course.

He climbed down the stairs and saw his nephew wearing one for the most ridiculous hats he's ever seen in his entire life.

"Hey Ford! Look at what I won at the carnival!"

Wendy burst out giggling as Soos shook his head in disgust.

"Aw dude. That's...uh…an interesting choice in hat design"

Ford walked over to his nephew, snatching the hat off of his head.

"What in blazes is this? It looks like the head of a chicken!"

Rebecca shook her head. "I told you Marshall, this hat was not worth the ludicrous amount of money you wasted on that one challenge"

"Yes it was honey! I like the hat! It looks cool"

Ford adjusted his glasses and crossed his arms. "I can verify that this hat is not cool"

"Whatever. Anyways, the carnival was a blast! I think the town loves us!"

His nephew went on to blabber about their experience at the event but Ford tuned out.

He looked back up at the stairs and frowned.

' _I'll have to talk with her later'_

* * *

"C'mon…Yes!" Ford exclaimed. He was thrilled that he finally managed to make sense of the machinery he had been working on in the morning.

It was now night time. Everyone had gone to sleep. Except for him or course.

A spark of electricity sounded through his empty and hollow room. Soon a light appeared from the machine, illuminating his slightly dark work space.

He grabbed a beaker that was occupied with hot water.

The liquid went down the small little tube that was attached to the machine at the back.

A sigh of relief ejected from his mouth. He was finally going to finish off this creation and then he would always be alerted whenever the Shack was in danger. Whether it was a nearby fire or an actual threat, he would be prepared thanks to this invention.

His hand shot out to grab the metallic watch that was laid out on the side.

He slapped it on his wrist, making sure it stayed there perfectly still.

His watch was ready to set off a little alarm which would be activated by the rectangular machine in front of him.

If this alarm went off, that meant there was trouble. Trouble that he would take care of.

Once he saw that the water had disappeared entirely, he picked up the machine with pride.

"Another invention finished! And this one is actually important!"

He put his latest creation softly on the table, pushing it against the wall.

His eyes drooped as tiredness took over his body. However, he had one more thing to do.

Going back in the gift shop, he looked at the stairs that were leading up to the attic. Now he could finally visit his niece with zero interruptions…

Well, she was asleep so he couldn't have a conversation with her but he needed to see how she was doing.

He made sure not make any uproarious sounds as he travelled towards her room.

Ford actually felt thankful that the attic didn't have a lock.

He opened the door gently and saw her sleeping peacefully in her bed, the comforters lazily covering her torso.

However, after closer inspection he could see something next to her.

It was a portrait.

And the portrait was…Mabel and….

He froze. Dipper. Mabel and Dipper.

Stanford closed his eyes as hard as he could, fearing that his heart would break if he captured the sight of that image again.

It took a lot for Ford to be shattered emotionally. So this was quite the achievement. But not one that was to be proud of.

A glance showed him the necklace he saw her wearing when she first arrived at Gravity Falls.

He stepped a little closer and saw the Big Dipper constellation-

Ford felt his eyes burn. He turned around. He did not need to see any of this.

However, he couldn't just leave her like that. He had to do something. Coming up here, looking at her and then going back downstairs was utterly useless.

He caught the sight of a pink notebook set on the wooden table that was in the center of the room.

He grabbed it. An idea formed in his mind.

He ripped a lined piece of paper as quietly as he could before setting the notebook back down. Maybe he could write a letter explaining how much the people around her cared. She didn't have to be afraid. Yes, surely that will make her feel more at home.

Or at least that's what he hoped for.

He took a pen out of the chest pocket that was on his big beige trench coat.

He began writing. Surely it would probably look quite messy once finished but all that mattered was that it got the point across: There was nothing to be afraid of.

' _Dear Mabel-_

 _Ever since you've arrived at Gravity Falls, you've showed signs of suffering. You're in pain because of the sad loss of your twin brother: Dipper Pines. I understand how you feel. I know you're feeling lost and afraid without your brother by your side but you can't keep living like this Mabel. Don't you see? We care about you. Soos cares about you. Wendy cares about you. Your parents care about you. I care about you. You don't have to lock all your thoughts and feelings away in your heart. We're here for you. If there's something wrong, you need to tell us. We'll help you through it. You're not alone. I know that it's hard for you to move on without Dipper. But do you think he would want you to live like this? Do you think he would enjoy seeing you like this? The answer is no. He would want you to keep pleasant memories about him and then move on. But you don't have to move on by walking a lonely road. You have us! Please Mabel, all I ask of you is-_

A soft moan interrupted his writing session. He turned to look at Mabel.

Luckily, she was still sleeping but she looked uncomfortable. He frowned.

He knew that it was risky to continue writing but he needed to finish this.

 _to remember that if you need help with anything, you've got the entire Shack to lend you a hand. Don't think low of yourself. You are an innocent sweetheart._

 _-Your Great Uncle Ford_

His eyes widened as he realized just how much he had written down.

' _When did you become so sappy Ford?'_

He set the note tenderly on the table.

There was one thing he still had to do.

He pulled the blanket closer up to Mabel's chin. He picked up the portrait and benevolently put it on her chest.

She immediately wrapped her arms around it.

He gave her a sad smile before heading out the room, closing the door with a soft click.

He went back inside his room and took off his glasses, setting them on the counter next to the couch.

"Hope Ford. Hope for her"

 _ **NZYVO RHM'G NZPRMT MVD UIRVMWH LI ZMB XLMMVXGRLMH**_

 _ **HSV FHVW GL YV ZOO HNROVH ZMW MLD HSV'H ZOO UILDMH**_

 _ **HSV'H HFUUVIRMT HL NFXS HSV XZM'G VEVM XLMMVXG DRGS SVI LDM IVUOVXGRLM**_

 _ **VEVIBLMV DZMGH GL SVOK YFG HSV LMOB HVZIXSVH ULI XLNULIG GSILFTS HDVZGVI GLDM**_

 _ **This story just hit over ten thousand words so…Cool. And we're only on the third chapter lol.**_


	4. Mixed Emotions

_**So I actually went ahead and reread all the chapters. I discovered multiple grammar mistakes. Now, I could try to fix all of them but that would be a pain in the ass. Plus, I'm pretty sure every fanfic has mistakes both spelling and punctuation wise. Of course, if there is a huge error then I will edit the chapter and make it correct but otherwise…Lay off Grammar Nazis lol.**_

 _ **Anyways, here is the fourth chapter! Thank you all for your support on this story. Even though it's not a lot; the fact that this story has 24 reviews, 21 favorites and 28 follows really motivates me to update this story more frequently. And, I just recently hit one thousand views for this fanfic! How insane is that? Well, insane for me at least. This chapter is quite intense so…Yeah. Just a glimpse of how crazy things will get in the future. This is also the longest chapter yet.**_

 _ **Summary~ Mabel Pines and her family move to their Great Uncle Ford's house/tourist trap; 'The Mystery Shack' in Gravity Falls. With Mabel in deep depression, Ford finds someone who he can finally relate to. But she was so broken, he didn't want her to live in this state. However, is it a good idea to build a bond with his niece? What troubles will occur?**_

 _ **"You'd be surprised at how much you can have in common with someone completely different from you"- Unknown**_

The sky was clouded and rain was hammering heavily.

Gravity Falls often had very bizarre weather changes. One day you would take your shirt off due to the preposterously hot temperature but the day after you could return to your respective home with completely soaked clothes.

Such was the absurd nature of Gravity Falls.

It was currently six o' clock in the morning. Quite early for anybody to be staying up.

Everyone was asleep. Even Stanford who rarely suspended consciousness.

However, the condition within the Shack was not to be taken lightly. It wasn't freezing but it was cold enough to the point where it could drag a child out of its slumber.

And that's exactly what it did. Despite her comforter covering her entire body, she still felt herself shaking due to the chilliness.

The blankets laid on top of her small figure were kicked off and she rubbed her shoulders up and down in a poor attempt to feel some warmth.

Perhaps one of her sweaters would do?

Digging through her little stack of clothes laid haphazardly on the floor, she found a light yellow sweater that had a green thumbs up on it.

"Too cheerful for me" She muttered sadly. Wearing something that expressed happiness was not appropriate for an idiotic and depressed person like her.

Eventually, Mabel found a dark blue sweater that looked big enough to withstand the cold.

She turned on the lamp next to her bed and immediately winced at the brightness.

Her eyes remained slightly shut as she rummaged underneath her bed for a certain something.

Finally her hands touched upon a little box and she dragged it out with her tiny hands.

The light coming from the lamp made the golden box look more special. It looked as if it were a solid block of gold.

She gently took the lid off and cautiously pulled out the little bracelet.

The rainbow bracelet Wendy had given her.

She felt sprinkles of guilt being poured in her heart. She never got to thank the redhead for making the gift. She could only imagine the disappointment on her face when Great Uncle Ford told her that she had basically kicked him out after he handed over the heartfelt present.

Mabel knew that she hadn't straight out told her Great Uncle to get out. She _did_ ask politely but it just felt like a jerk move to do after someone gives you something that they probably devoted a lot of time to making.

This was just further proof that beneath all the fake sweetheart act, she really was just a jerk.

Come to think of it, maybe this bracelet was a punishment from fate to show her how much a mean person she is. The bracelet could've been given to her out of cruelty. Who's to say that it she didn't receive the gift only for it be snatched back.

But she wasn't going to let negative thoughts cloud her mind. Or at least, she was going to try to maintain positivity. It was worth a shot.

She put the bracelet on and internally smiled. She couldn't bring herself to show an expression of cheeriness physically.

That's how sad her life has become.

Sliding the box back to where she had gotten it from, she walked over to turn off the lamp.

But a noticeable rip in her pink notebook could be seen.

Her insides twisted at the possible thought of someone reading her personal notes about her life.

She skimmed through the pages and let out a sigh of relief that none of the pages including her very private thoughts were ripped out.

However, she still feared that they another pair of eyes may have laid their sight on these paragraphs of angst and unhappiness.

That's when she noticed a piece of paper tucked below the lamp.

She took the note gently in her hands, straightening the sheet out to make sure it was visible to read. Her curiosity picked up.

' _How the hell did this get in my room?'_

She read the entire thing, processing the words with an ounce of disbelief in her head.

As soon as she finished it, her eyes watered up. But she clamped her mouth to suppress a gasp when she read who wrote it.

"Great Uncle Ford?" She whispered.

Her heart felt somewhat patched at the reassurance written down on the piece of paper.

But it broke again when she thought about the prospect of this being a joke.

It was possible. But she didn't want to believe.

' _They do care about her…'_

' _No! They don't! This letter was written to lure you in their affection only for them to push you back down on the ground!'_

' _Shut up!'_

' _YOU SHUT UP!'_

Mabel roughly slapped her hands onto her ears to block out all the verbal assaults her gut and mind were throwing at each other.

Five minutes passed. Ten minutes passed. Finally at fifteen minutes, Mabel felt her body shut down.

She was tired. Her brain and heart had given up on arguing.

She reread the note.

Maybe with some help, she could move on without Dipper…It wasn't impossible. There was some hope that-

A small laugh escaped her mouth.

Yeah right. Who was she trying to convince here? She would never get over the Big Dipper constellation shaped hole in her heart.

She placed the note down on the table with slight aggression. It was rare to see Mabel show signs of anger.

She was mostly sad, depressed, stressed, quiet etc.

But on very few occasions; she was mad.

It was now six forty-seven. Still early.

She caught sight of a little beige bag hanging off of the door to her closet.

An idea started to form in her head.

' _Yes…Then people won't have to worry about me'_

The note was probably fake. This was all just a joke.

She could vision everyone laughing at her. Ford, Wendy, Soos, Marshall, Rebecca.

Everyone who lived in Gravity Falls would fall in a fit of giggles as they see Mabel suffer.

'Cause watching people suffer was fun. It was fun for people on this planet.

She grabbed the portrait resting on her bed along with some other sweaters, stuffing them all into her bag.

It looked like it was going to burst any minute now but she didn't care. If it did rip apart, she would just carry all her stuff.

Mabel was sure she could handle it. She was able to carry stupidity and sadness for many years…

A few objects and pieces of clothing wouldn't hurt.

She quietly went downstairs and was thankful that no one had woke up yet.

Slipping on a pair of light blue shoes, she nervously opened the door to the gift shop.

She stepped out in the rainy weather before shutting the door. Her beige bag was slipped onto her shoulders.

The straps of the bag was held tightly by her slender fingers. A deep breath ejected from her mouth…

She ran. Mabel sprinted as fast as she could, desperate to escape the Shack.

Desperate to escape Gravity Falls.

Desperate to escape life. She couldn't live without Dipper. There was just no way for her to possibly remain happy without her brother.

A little part of her repeated the word 'stupid' over and over again. She could have just stayed in the Shack.

The note had a chance of being sincere. Her Great Uncle's words could have been very well from the heart.

But it could just as equally be fake.

Her entire chest heaved as her legs wobbled.

Running was taking its toll on her. She didn't want to but had no choice. She fell on the muddy ground.

Tears strolled from her face. How was she supposed to move on? How?!

The tears that fell from her face blended in with the rain.

Mabel felt her eyes widen as she realized something. The rain, the tears, the muddy ground…

' _This is just like the nightmare I had yesterday morning…'_

Her heart flipped repeatedly as she got completely soaked. It was quite ironic how she had been mentally complaining about how cold it was inside the Shack.

Now she was outside, in the rain. The wind was so forceful, it seemed that she would fly away to another universe.

Ideally a universe where Dipper isn't dead.

Her fingernails went deeper into the dirt she was currently laying on.

"Fuck this world. Fuck this life…Just-just FUCK IT ALL!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, her voice sounding broken.

She got up from the ground but tripped on a rock and unpleasantly hit her head on nearby tree. The tree made a metal sound when she hit it. She couldn't process anything though as she fell on the ground once more but this time...She wasn't sure if she was ever going to get up. Blood leaked from her forehead down to her mouth. Mabel gasped at the sight and hugged herself as the rain completely drenched her clothes with water.

Mabel's entire body kept shaking as it just hit seven o' clock.

And seven o' clock was when Ford woke up.

* * *

A moan left Stanford's lips. He opened his eyes at a snail's pace as he looked around.

He caught his glasses and instantaneously put them on.

That was by far the best sleep he had in years. He didn't know why but all that mattered was that he had been able to doze off without any worries.

He walked off towards the bathroom and decided to take a shower. It was very rare that he did this…

He smelled like utter crap most times so for him to try to make best of his hygiene was very irregular.

He grabbed his red robe from the side and headed off.

Ford stepped in the bathtub, undressing himself before turning on the shower.

The warm water soothed his entire body.

He hummed a soft but inspirational tune to Queen's 'We are the Champions'.

Ford's mind travelled back to last night and he smiled fondly at the memory.

His niece had been sleeping so calmly. Every single time he saw her before that moment, she looked like she wanted to fade away. A truly saddening sight…

But the way she appeared when she was sleeping was just…So flawless. It seemed as if nothing was wrong with her in the first place.

He didn't know why but after he finished writing that note, he felt…Good?

No, that wasn't the right way to describe it.

Ford wasn't sure exactly what it was but something blossomed within him.

"I really am turning into an old softie, aren't I?" He asked himself.

After he was finished with his shower, he brushed his teeth and put on his casual red sweater and trench coat.

He stopped in front of the mirror and took a look at himself.

"Hmm…Still look like garbage" He said with a proud smile.

"Yeesh, what has this kid done to me? I should be grumpy and tired but I'm feeling happy and energetic"

He looked down on his watch to see that it was seven 'thirteen.

Usually, he woke up earlier but sleep wanted to hold onto him for a little longer.

Which he didn't mind. He didn't mind at all.

A yawn left Ford's mouth as he walked over to the kitchen, planning to make himself an omelet for breakfast.

The rain outside did not go unnoticed by Stanford.

It was quite fierce.

Surprisingly, and _thankfully_ there was no thunder.

Once finished, the omelet was set on a small round plate and carried over to the dining table.

A growl left Ford's abdomen which was just screaming hungry. He wasted no time, eating his breakfast in a matter of minutes.

Once finished, he washed the plate and fork; putting them both in their individual and respective sections.

"What to do next?" He asked himself.

A small smile emerged on his face as turned towards the stairs. Considering Mabel had woken up yesterday at seven o'clock, it wouldn't be a shocker if she was awake currently since it was only seven twenty.

His marginally dirty boots thumped heavily against the wooden stairs. He walked quietly down the hall towards Mabel's door.

His hand reached up and touched the door knob. He turned it around at a sloths pace.

When he had peeked inside, he expected to see the girl up or still sleeping.

What Ford didn't expect to see was all of Mabel's belongings had disappeared.

"Odd…Maybe she stored them somewhere else" After further inspection however, he noted that there was no storage area where she could have kept her stuff.

' _Maybe she's in the bathroom'_ Ford though, not wanting to believe what his mind was telling him.

Mabel was not located anywhere in the attic…

Ford felt his heart beat rapidly as he tried to come up with another excuse. Anything….Just anything to block out that assumption.

"She couldn't have run away. She couldn't have!" He muttered, a tone of anger in his voice.

It was at that moment; he spotted the note he had made for her last night.

The paper was crippled and…wet?

She had been crying….Stanford set the note on the bed with fury boiling inside of him.

His niece thought it was okay to just leave the Shack and go off-

Every single body organ felt like it had tightened by itself.

If Mabel had gone off to the woods…Oh no.

Ford quickly grabbed a few tools and weapons he knew were needed if he wanted to fight off the supernatural aspects that lurk within the Gravity Falls forest.

"Please tell me she didn't go into the forest"

Once Marshall and Rebecca heard she had ran away, Rebecca felt sick to her stomach while Marshall had remained completely silent. No one single word had left his lips the entire morning.

Abnormal indeed for a usual loudmouth like him.

The Mystery Shack was closed today. Family over business. Always.

Wendy and Soos could have easily stayed home but they waited with Marshall and Rebecca inside the Shack.

They may have been frustrating employees at times but they were actually above decent human beings.

Mabel's parents and Ford's employees all stayed inside the Shack. Their expressions were unreadable.

Stanford had promised everyone that he would get Mabel back but Marshall tried to hold him back.

"You could get hurt Ford" He said, his eyes showing glimmer of worry in them.

"Marshall, I've done many dangerous things in my life. And I've come out only with a few bruises and scratches here and there. I'll be fine….Mabel could be hurt"

He watched as his nephew stepped back and shoved his hands in his pockets. Just before he opened the door, he could hear Marshall mumble something.

"If only Dipper was here…"

Ford rushed outside into the rainy environment, closing the door behind him before running towards the forest.

He stopped in his tracks as he heard a horrifying snap somewhere near him. He gulped down nervousness, thinking of what situation Mabel could be trapped in.

"Please be okay Mabel sweetie"

* * *

Ford couldn't see very well. His glasses were drenched by the rain. His vision was slightly blurred causing him to stumble a bit.

"Mabel!" He didn't get a response.

Stanford felt rage boiling within him.

He understood his niece's problems. He knew that she was suffering.

But what help does running away do?

The long sides of his trench coat flew behind his back as his mind was racing with a million thoughts every second.

He didn't think he would have to deal with all this drama when Marshall would bring his family over.

He thought it was just going to be a plain normal summer vacation.

It was far from that.

"Mabel! Mabel!" Only the weather would answer his calls. But he didn't care about the weather.

 _He cared about Mabel._

Ford continued to run off in any direction that was present, continuously calling out his nieces name. There was no answer.

His feet tripped over something, causing him to fall directly into the mud.

He tried to get over the disgusting scenery he was currently involved in and continued to look for Mabel.

But his legs stopped moving when something in the corner of his eye stood out from everything else.

Through this dull and horrible weather, a light purple headband laid on the ground.

Ford snatched the object and figured this had to be a sign as to where Mabel had gone.

He didn't know anyone else in Gravity Falls that wore headbands. He doubted it could have been one of the local girls who were visiting the town. They wouldn't go out in this type of weather. Nobody with an ounce of common sense in their body would ever go outside in these horrendous climate conditions.

But Mabel wasn't using common sense for directions and choices. She was using a broken heart.

"MABEL!" Ford's voice was desperate and it was laced heavily with a dry throat, causing him to sound like some horrifying monster. It would scare away possibly the entire civilization of Gravity Falls if they were around to witness this moment.

He tried to think of possible locations where she might have gone. She couldn't leave Gravity Falls; that wouldn't be possible.

His mind forced him to continue his search. His niece could be in trouble. Gnomes could have attacked her, she could have broken a bone in her body, she could…

She could be dead.

Ford suddenly stopped and ran his hands through his grey hair.

"Mabel…" He said to no one in particular.

He dropped to his knees and spit out some grass.

At this point, he was wondering if he should just return home.

He stood up, his hands going to his sides only to feel something solid.

An idea formed in his head. It was risky but at this point he was willing to hug Toby Determined in order to get his niece back.

He cringed. _'Pretending I never thought that'_

Ford reached for the solid object that was attached to the side of his trench coat.

He aimed it towards a tree, his fingers ghosting over the trigger.

"Now" He whispered, pushing the trigger and causing the tree he aimed for to fall with a loud thump.

To his delight, it elicited a loud whimper from nearby. It came from his left.

He ran as fast as he could towards the noises of discomfort. He knew that blasting a tree with a legitimate laser gun was incredibly risky but he couldn't keep running into random areas, hoping for his niece to be there.

"Shit" Ford muttered, stopping at a tree to rest his hand on there. His ribs were starting to ache due to all this running.

He tried to keep on the speed but his organs just wouldn't cooperate. Perhaps speed walking was a better option.

After was felt like a perpetuity, he found his niece.

Not the aesthetically pleasing sight in the world, that's for sure.

Mabel was laid down on the grass, stomach first with silent tears strolling down her face.

After further inspection, Ford found that her head was bleeding slightly.

He saw a beige bag next to her that looked like it was going to blow up. It must've been filled with her belongings.

Ford went closer to his niece much to the dismay of his nibling.

"Stay away! Go away! Go back to the Shack!" She yelled at the top of her lungs.

Ford ignored her shrieks of uncomfortableness.

However, he let out a small 'oof' when she started to punched his chest.

"Let me go! Let me go!" Ford groaned as she punched him harder in the chest.

He couldn't carry her to the Shack like this. He sat down on the muddy grass, his back being supported by the bark of the moss covered tree.

Mabel cried as she tried to pry Stanford's hands off of her.

"Stop! I don't deserve this!"

"Don't deserve what?"

"This! I don't deserve to be rescued! Just…Go away! You can take your fake notes and walk away! Please…Just let me die here!"

"Fake note?" Ford asked, completely perplexed.

"I read the note you left in my room. Why do you have to be so cruel? Saying that you care when you don't. Nobody cares about me. No one will ever care about me. The only person who cared about me was Dipper" She said, tightly clenching the collar of Ford's coat.

"Soos cares about you. Wendy cares about you. Marshall and Rebecca care about you. All four of them. They're waiting in the Shack, worried about you….I care about you"

"You're all lying!"

"NO WE'RE NOT!"

Ford heard Mabel cry even more. She hadn't retorted and instead kept sobbing in his coat.

"Listen Mab-"

"NO! GET AWAY FROM ME!" She said, pushing her Great Uncle back on the tree and running ahead.

"Mabel!" Ford sighed. He didn't want to have to do this but…He wasn't going to let Mabel go potentially kill herself in the woods.

He swiftly pulled out from the inside of his coat a long needle with a white base and chased after his niece.

The cry that escaped her mouth when he injected the sharp object into her shoulder was not something that Ford was happy to say he caused.

His niece fainted in his arms. He set her against the tree as he took off his coat and wrapped it around her.

The red sweater he was wearing did not fare well against the fierce wind. But he would have to deal with the disastrous weather.

He carried his niece in his arms, bringing her close to the warm fabric of his sweater as he carried her to the Shack.

He sadly looked down on Mabel. She looked so innocent. She looked at peace.

He flicked his tongue against his teeth in annoyance.

"Stupid" He said, softly caressing her cheek. "Why don't you get it….People do care about you. I care about you" A sigh left his dry lips.

* * *

Marshall paced back and forth, worrying for his Uncle and daughter.

"Marshall honey, I'm sure they're-"

"Rebecca! They've been out for almost half an hour! Who knows what happened to Mabel" He said, sinking to his knees.

"C'mon man, don't think negatively. They're...They're probably coming backing now" Wendy said, trying to remain optimistic.

Soos scratched the back of his neck, unsure of how to feel in this situation.

I don't know dude. I mean, what if M-Mr. Pines and Mabel really are in trouble?" Everyone remained silent.

Nobody moved. The tension was as thick as a cinder block.

The apprehension in the room was cut in half when the door to the gift shop opened with a bang.

Ford walked in, completely soaked. Mabel was in his arms, still wrapped in Ford's coat.

Everyone gasped. Marshall was the first one to walk up to them.

"Ford! What happened to her?!" Stanford looked down and ran a hand through his now wet floppy hair.

"Relax…She's sleeping now. I tried to bring her over to the Shack but she kept arguing and fighting…" Ford contemplated whether he should tell Marshall and Rebecca about her thinking they didn't care about her…

He decided to keep it a secret. He didn't want a new chapter of drama to deal with.

"I injected her with a resting needle so that she would fall asleep"

Marshall winced at the thought of his daughter taking a needle but he nodded his head up and down.

He then noticed the blood on her forehead.

"She's bleeding!"

"She must've hit her head on a tree or something similar to that. I'll patch her up, don't worry Marshall" Ford said.

"T-Thank you Stanford for saving her" He said, hugging his brother.

"No problem. But I have a request"

Rebecca nodded, patting her husband on the shoulder. "What is it?"

He whispered in both of their ears and they nodded much to Ford's relief.

* * *

Mabel felt her eyes slowly open, she tried to get up but her head was hurting massively.

"Don't move too much" Mabel felt her eyes widen at the voice.

It was Great Uncle Ford.

She looked around, demanding an explanation for her current state. She caught the sight of a beige bag.

Inside, she could see her belongings.

She felt her heart twist. Things were coming back to her…

The planned escape, her head injury, being caught by Ford and then...

"You've injured your head slightly. It was bleeding so I had to patch it up with a large bandage. Don't take it off for at least two weeks"

Mabel nodded, feeling the bandage on her forehead.

"Wha-what time is it?" She asked nervously.

"It's night time. Ten o' clock to be specific" A silence passed on between the two until Ford spoke up in an icy and cold voice.

"You're in major trouble young lady" Mabel gulped.

"I'm sorry" She whispered, tears flowing down her face.

Ford wasn't having any of it though. "Do you know how dangerous the stunt that you pulled today was? You worried us all! How do you think Marshall and Rebecca felt? How do you think Wendy and Soos felt? How do you think I felt?!"

Mabel closed her eyes, waiting for her punishment. She clenched her fists and sat up slightly, preparing herself in case she got smacked across the face for her stupidity.

"When I found you laying on the ground, I felt like garbage. I tried to bring you back to the Shack but you kept fighting. I had to inject you with a resting needle for you to go to sleep. When I was carrying you back to the Shack, I took a glance at your face and I felt bad. You could have died out there! And that is not an exaggeration!"

Mabel let out a weak moan as her eyes started wetting again.

"Maybe that would've been for the best…"

Ford narrowed his eyes at his niece. "What?"

"Maybe you should have let me died. Then you wouldn't have to worry about me"

"You really don't get it, do you?"

"Huh?"

"You keep acting like no one cares about you when they clearly do. Wendy and Soos stayed by your side for more than five hours. Marshall and Rebecca have been worrying non-stop ever since I brought you back" He said, looking downwards at the floor. He turned his face upwards.

His gaze then softened at her as he spoke in a much lower voice. "And I…I've been worrying for you ever since you first came here. You're suffering and that's crystal clear. But you'll only suffer more if you push away others who are trying to help"

Mabel stared at him unsurely. She was waiting for him to laugh in her face and say it's all a joke but he didn't.

"I care about you Mabel. Everybody here cares about you. You need to understand that. I don't want you to do what you did today ever again, understand?" She nodded.

Ford leaned forward and kissed her forehead.

Mabel felt something in her chest. She didn't know how to describe it but…It felt both bad and good.

It was at that moment she noticed a blanket and pillow on the floor.

"Who's that for?"

"Me. I'll be sleeping here up in the attic to make sure you never ever do anything stupid again" She nodded, shamefully looking down.

Mabel bit her lip. She wanted to tell her Great Uncle that he didn't have to sleep on the floor. He could sleep up here with her…

But she didn't tell him that. She let him turn off the light.

She observed the way he uncomfortably move on the rough wooden floor.

Mabel stayed put on her bed. She was having mixed emotions.

The feeling in her chest was telling her that she didn't have to worry. She was cared about. Ford told her that. People did care about her and this time she actually believed them.

But the feeling in her chest was also telling her that the attention she got was undeserved.

Now she was also starting to believe that she didn't deserve all this nice treatment. She shouldn't be cared about. She turned to her side but realized something was missing. She glanced down at her neck and was relieved to see her Big Dipper necklace.

But something else needed to be in her presence as well.

She quietly got up, making sure not to wake up her Great Uncle. She hugged the portrait of her and her brother as she took another look at the old man sleeping on the floor.

Mabel felt like a messed up robot. She felt like she needed to be restarted. Rebooted.

She needed to be destroyed and then rebuilt back together.

But she couldn't be rebuilt back together.

So she would destroy herself. It was the only option she had.

Mabel didn't know what to feel any-fucking-more. She had thought that nobody cared about her when they clearly did.

And now she didn't want to be cared about.

Mabel just wanted to fade away.

Fade away to wherever fate takes her.

Whether it be hell.

Whether it be heaven.

She didn't care. Just stop the pain.

Just stop it.

She could just end her life and then maybe one day she would be granted a visit from Dipper as a gift. Or better yet: She could visit him.

But she couldn't commit suicide. The people around her would be so distraught.

Her mixed emotions was like fire trying to fight fire. She shoved them to the back of her mind and closed her eyes, forcing her body to fall asleep.

However, she saw a small piece of paper crumpled under the sheets of her bed.

She picked it up.

It was the note Ford wrote for her. She softly folded it and put it inside the frame her and Dipper.

"Thank you for caring Great Uncle Ford" She whispered before dozing off into a world of fantasy.

Little did she know, he had responded.

"Your very welcome sweetheart"

 _ **KVLKOV XZIV ZYLFG NZYVO KRMVH**_

 _ **YFG WLVH HSV DZMG GSVN GL?**_

 _ **YVXZFHV ZUGVI YVRMT GLOW DSZG DZH HFKKLHVWOB Z IVORVERMT GIFGS**_

 _ **HSV UVVOH OVHH IVORVEVW ZMW IZGSVI VNLGRLMZOOB XLMUFHVW**_

 _ **Some of you might be thinking this; Mabel is so messed up. She's so messed up as in, she doesn't have a proper character. As you can see, she was always convinced people didn't care about her. When she found out they did, she felt like she didn't deserve to be cared about. You possibly could be thinking that she can't just switch feelings like that but…She can. Mabel lost her twin brother. Her other half. Her best friend. She doesn't have a proper personality. So if her character is completely broken, that's a good thing. Because it shows how she's really struggling to be a certain 'character'. She used to be the cheerful and happy hyper girl. Now she's a mix of every negative trait in the world.**_

 _ **Anyways, I hope you enjoyed that chapter! The next chapter might take a little time but I'll update as soon as possible.**_


	5. Seeking Comfort

_**So for some reason this chapter was hard for me to write. I'm not sure why but I had to keep on deleting it and trying over because every time I thought I had this finished, it turned out pretty poor. I thought I would be on a small break from this story but I decided I was in a writing mood today so I immediately got to work on the fifth chapter. I still feel like I could have done a better job at writing here but whatever. This one includes a minuscule amount of Mabel and Ford bonding. I won't be doing super-duper cute fluffy stuff yet. I'm going to make you people wait for those moments because I'm a jerk lol.**_

 _ **Summary~ Mabel Pines and her family move to their Great Uncle Ford's house/tourist trap; 'The Mystery Shack' in Gravity Falls. With Mabel in deep depression, Ford finds someone who he can finally relate to. But she was so broken, he didn't want her to live in this state. However, is it a good idea to build a bond with his niece? What troubles will occur?**_

 _ **"You'd be surprised at how much you can have in common with someone completely different from you"- Unknown**_

With a loud grunt, Ford dropped a box full of Mystery Shack merchandise. Slowly his six fingered hands began to take each piece of useless junk out from the cardboard receptacle.

He had woken up early to stock up some new 'worthless' material for the idiotic tourists to pick up.

Since he had to close up the gift shop yesterday due to the…Events that took place…Surely, there was going to be to tons of customers coming in today.

Despite the Mystery Shack being full of pathetic toys and ridiculous clothing, people still loved it. Someone even got a tattoo of the store on their forehead.

"Ugh" A shiver went down Ford's spine as he remembered seeing the mark that was inked on that person's body. It was horrendous. He never understood the whole concept of tattoos. Why would you want graffiti on your body?

He shrugged it off and carried on with his business. Today he had plans.

As much as he would love to continue working on scientific matters that revolved around this world; he had much more important stuff to do.

He was going to heal his niece. Not today of course. For a person to recover from massive depression, it would take weeks, maybe even months, possibly years.

But he wanted to give it a start. He was getting tired of seeing Mabel wake up, looking like someone who could pass out any second.

In addition to the emotional recovery, there was physicality that needed to be taken care of as well. The bandage on Mabel's forehead was going to stay on there for a while.

Although he had said only two weeks would pass before she could take it off, he knew it was going to take longer. Heck, it could take a month before she can take that things off.

Whatever she hurt her head on must have been super hard for it to start bleeding nonstop like that. It took him a good hour or so to make sure no more fluid was leaking from her temples.

The ideal day in his mind would consist of Mabel and him going to Greasy's Diner to 'sort' things out but…Something told him that wasn't going to work.

After emptying out the box, he sat on the yellow arm chair in the TV room.

His back was slightly aching since he slept on the hard wooden ground but it was for the best. The smaller bed that was on the left side of the room was far too small for it to be comfortable.

Sleeping on the floor may have not been preferable, but neither was sleeping in a bed that was half the size of him.

He carried his prostrated body to the kitchen, making himself two pieces of toast smothered in Nutella.

The bread's crunchy edges was quietly chewed up in his mouth as he contemplated about his nieces answer to his plan.

He knew that she was not particularly comfortable in the social department. She barely talked and when she did, it was always almost inaudible or ugly sounding. Her voice although high-pitched usually came out sounding extremely asperous.

More doubts surrounded Ford's idea for the day. Mabel was already nervous talking to people in the Shack so socializing in public would be especially nerve-wracking.

But he wanted answers. No, he _needed_ answers. If he didn't get them today, he would get them eventually.

No one could help Mabel if she kept all her emotional baggage to herself.

With a small twinge in his back, he went up the stairs and opened the door to the attic.

The room was dark because of the missing sunlight. The enormous rain yesterday left the sky clouded.

According to weather reports, sunny days would fill the rest of the week but Ford knew better than to trust some random site that claimed they knew exactly what the temperature and atmospheric conditions would be. He had his own invention that could predict the weather for an entire month.

And it looked like it was going to be a cold and wet month. There wouldn't be any sunlight for quite a while.

Ford ran his hands through his hair as he looked over at Mabel. She was in a deep sleep, soft snores leaving her mouth.

Yet again, Ford found himself blown away how happy and contempt she looked when she was sleeping.

He picked up the blanket and pillow from the floor and chucked them at the other bed as Mabel slept peacefully.

He decided he would give her a few more minutes before waking her up.

He went back downstairs and saw Marshall stretching. His eyes had bags under them.

"Marshall?"

His nephew jumped a bit before responding. "Yes"

"Did you sleep well?"

A silence passed between the two. That was all Ford needed to know that he hadn't gotten a good sleep.

"What's wrong?"

There was still no response.

"Marshall…." Stern undertones could be heard in his voice.

"Alright, fine! I didn't get any sleep, are you happy now?!" Stanford was taken back at the sudden mood change but his expression soon turned into one of sympathy.

"It's about Mabel, isn't it?"

Marshall's jaw dropped. How he had figured out what was bothering him so quickly was over his head.

"H-how did you know?"

"Marshall, yesterday you were pacing around like a maniac. You were having a panic attack and snapped at anyone who tried to calm you down"

A look of guilt crossed his face. "Sorry about that"

"Hey, it's okay. Look, I know you're worried about her but trust me, she won't ever do anything like that again. I'll make sure of it"

"I….I've just never ever seen her in a situation like that" His voice cracked as the sentence left his mouth.

A reassuring hand on Marshall's shoulder made him look his uncle in the eyes.

"Listen Marshall, I know it was scary but she's fine. Sure, she'll have to wear a bandage on her forehead for a couple of weeks but that won't hurt her, it'll just be a little annoying. Relax Marshall, your daughter will be fine"

"Thanks Stanford"

* * *

Mabel opened her eyes slowly only to find that her Great Uncle was sitting at the edge of the bed.

She was surprised but didn't have the strength to move any of her limbs.

"Hi" She whispered.

"Hey. I was wondering when you would wake up. It's nine o' clock"

A shameful look passed onto her face. "Sorry for waking up late"

"Pfft don't be silly. This is still relatively early for a kid to wake up. Plus, after yesterday you needed all the sleep you could get"

"Yeah…" Mabel muttered shakily.

"C'mon, brush your teeth and then I'll make breakfast for you" She was about to refuse his offer and tell him she could make her own breakfast but the look on his face was strict and already eliminated that suggestion.

"Yes Great Uncle Ford"

After rushing through all the casual morning procedures, she found herself walking behind Ford to the kitchen. The bandage on her head was rather annoying but if she took it off, there was the risk of her injury becoming worse than it already was.

However, as she looked all around the Shack, she couldn't help but wonder one thing.

"Where did my parents go?"

"Grocery shopping. It may look like I have tons of food but I really don't. They went out to buy some healthy products"

Mabel nodded as she pulled out a chair from the circular table, sitting in it comfortably.

"W-what are we…Having for breakfast?"

"I already ate mine. What you're going to have for breakfast is a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich. If you're okay with that of course…" Ford said, glancing back at her.

She shook her head up and down signalling a yes.

He pulled out a jar of peanut butter and another one that contained jelly. An interesting observation he made was when he had pulled out the knife, a dolorous look appeared on her face.

"Is there something wrong?"

"No Great Uncle Ford" His niece's voice had gotten unusually small. He had heard her talk barely above a whisper before but this was a new level of quietude that he count not recall her ever using.

Not wanting to push any buttons though, he dropped the subject.

He set two pieces of bread in the toaster as he looked over towards Mabel. She was fiddling with her fingers and seemed to be every now and then looking upwards towards her bandage.

A ticking sound was all that could be heard aside from the chatter coming from the gift shop.

Ford tapped his six fingers on the counter in impatience.

 _Ding!_

Two pieces of bread were settled gently on a white plate. He pulled out a jar of peanut butter and another one that contained jelly. An interesting observation he made was when he had pulled out the knife, a dolorous look appeared on her face.

"Is there something wrong?"

"No Great Uncle Ford" His niece's voice had gotten unusually small. He had heard her talk barely above a whisper before but this was a new level of quietude that he count not recall her ever using.

Not wanting to push any buttons though, he dropped the subject.

The sound of a knife scraping against toast filled the room. Mabel was desperately trying to not visibly cringe but it showed up on her face anyways.

Once the peanut butter was spread over the bread, he began to add the jelly.

The sound of a stomach churning interrupted the muteness, causing Ford to look around with a minuscule smirk.

"You're hungry, huh?"

"Yes…"

Ford slid the plate over to his niece.

He sat down as his niece took her first bite from the sandwich.

"Is it good?"

"Y-yeah"

He flicked some dirt off his nails to the right as Mabel softly chewed the substances of her breakfast.

"Mabel?"

She looked up from eating her breakfast with a pair of dull eyes.

"Yes Great Uncle Ford"

He coughed, trying to mentally shape the way he would word things.

"I was wondering if you wanted to go outside with me today" Her body went stiff and that was an immediate sign that Ford's plan was probably going to fail.

"Um…" Ford moved closer to her and rested a hand on top of hers.

"Hey, if you don't want to, that's okay. All I'm asking is if you wanted to come with me to Greasy's Diner so we could discuss…some things"

The words that Ford said didn't do much to help her calm down. If anything, he made her go more tense.

Discussing 'some' things could sound incredibly threatening to a twelve year old. He knew the feeling.

Mabel couldn't stop the worrying thoughts that were travelling in her head. Even though Stanford seemed quite calm, she had a feeling that another scolding would be coming her way for what she did yesterday.

Last night she had already gotten a bit of a lecture. She really didn't want to receive another one.

' _Just say no. He said you don't have to do it. He gave you an option'_

' _NO! Do it you scared little dipshit! Prove that you're brave'_

' _You don't have to prove anything!'_

' _Yes you do! You have to prove you're not a little useless bitch that can't do anything without her oh so precious twin brother…'_

That was the straw that broke the camel's back. She sat up abruptly, nearly knocking over her plate.

"Mabel? Everything okay?" She tried her best to hold in her tears but it was useless. A lone tear slid down her cheek.

Ford stared in shock as she bit her lip so hard, it started to bleed.

"Ma-" He couldn't finish his sentence as she ran away and quickly went to the gift shop.

Wendy's eyes left the magazine she was reading in order to examine Mabel as she saw her running at a fast pace. Her eyes widened when she realized that she was full out crying.

"Holy shit" She muttered.

"And here we have the Dragorilla. It's part dragon! It's part gorilla!" Soos said with pride as the tourists clapped.

Wendy tapped on his shoulder.

"Was' up dude?"

"Soos, real talk here. I just saw Mabel crying hardcore"

The handyman's eye's widened at the information delivered to him. "What? Where did she go?"

"Upstairs"

They both glanced at the upper level of the Shack before speed walking towards Mabel's direction.

A frown encased Ford features. "Well, I guess that's a no"

He followed his niece with his hands in his pockets.

Mabel tried to hide the drops of water strolling down her face as she passed through the gift shop, hurriedly entering the lavatory and locking the door.

She held in her sobs which ended up coming out as coughs. The tap was turned on in an instant, her hands reaching out for the cold water. She splashed it on her face and repeated the process multiple time until her hands started hurting and her face started freezing.

"Mabel dude" She turned off the sink and held in her cries.

"W-who is that?"

"It's Soos. Are you okay? Don't' freak out"

"Yeah Mabel. We just want to know if you're okay or not"

Wendy and Soos both tried to persuade Mabel to open up the door and let them comfort her but she wouldn't budge.

She slid down the tiled wall, hugging her knees and silently letting her tears fall onto her knees. Her Big Dipper necklace was dripping with water as the pleads of Sops and Wendy to open the door rang through her ears.

A deep voice soon interrupted the two employees and Mabel felt like she was being backed into a corner now as she heard her Great Uncle's voice.

"Mabel, open this door" She shivered. His voice didn't sound welcoming or comforting. It was strict.

The voices of Wendy and Soos soon disappeared. She assumed they were sent back to the gift shop to take care of the customers.

Ford's knuckles rapped against the door gently but the soft knocking was in contrast to his demanding and hard voice.

"Mabel?" There was still no answer.

He sighed. He didn't want to invade his nieces privacy like this but…He didn't have much of a choice.

A golden key was pulled out of his pocket and was shoved into the lock of the bathroom.

Mabel let out a small shriek as the door unlocked and her Great Uncle walked in with a sad frown.

"How did you-"

"That's not important right now. Here, come with me" He said, taking hold of her hand.

They went back into the attic. Ford set Mabel on her bed and looked her straight in the eyes.

"What's wrong?" There was no answer. He swallowed a lump in his throat as she continued to sob.

"Mabel…"

"Nothing, I just…My brain was being stupid" She said, looking at his shoes.

Stanford put a hand on her shoulder. She flinched at the contact but let him keep it there.

"Listen sweetie, if there's something wrong; you can tell me" Her vision turned away from his figure causing him to let out a tiny groan.

"Ma-"

"I'll tell you at the diner" Mabel wasn't sure what her thinking process was when making that decision but she didn't want to reject it and look weak. She needed to go through it. Even if she did receive another speech about how irresponsible she was.

On the inside, Ford was relieved she had agreed to go with him but he still didn't feel good. It sounded like she was forcing herself to go.

"Alright then. We'll chat at the diner. But for now let's finish your breakfast"

She turned around and wiped her eyes before accepting the hand that was in front of her.

They both walked back to the kitchen as Mabel angrily flicked her tears away.

Ford pulled her closer to him.

Her mind was in major conflict. She was having arguments with herself. He knew the feeling.

 _He had been through the exact same mental conflict forty years ago._

* * *

Ford and Mabel walked together towards Greasy's Diner. The wind was not to be taken lightly as it was outstandingly strong.

Mabel had insisted going out in a regular black sweater but Ford told her to wear an actual jacket since it would be able to withstand the coldness that was lurking around in the air of Gravity Falls.

Stanford had gone out in a big black jacket with a scarf wrapped around his neck. Admittedly, he had planned to go out with his usual attire of the long beige trench coat but a very wise man had pointed out to him that;

' _If you're going to go out looking like that Poindexter, you're going to catch a cold. Wear something more appropriate Ford and stop trying to look cool'_

Soon enough, they were standing right in front of what was basically Lazy Susan's home since she spent most of her time in there.

Mabel's breaths got noticeably louder as the sight of other people met her eyes. There were teenagers, adults and even kids who looked just about her age. But those kids were different. Happy smiles were plastered on their faces. Cute little laughs escaped their mouths. The only similarity these kids had with Mabel was size and probably age. But everything else was different. These children were happy and innocent, not exposed to how harsh the real world can really be, taking away someone you love more than anyone else…

"Calm down. I'll be right there with you if you feel anything unpleasant" Ford reminded her. She gave him a small nod but the anxiety in her gut would not leave. There were so many people here that she didn't know at all.

This was one of the times that Mabel wished she could go back to her old bubbly and cheery self. She used to socialize with anyone and everyone but now she can't even enter a diner without thinking that she would be made fun of. Her grasp on Ford's hand tightened. Despite the slight distrust Mabel had in her Great Uncle, she still held onto him for comfort.

She didn't even know if Ford really wanted to do what's best for her or just pull a little prank. Mabel had to be honest with herself, she had let Ford grow on her but only a tad bit. After last night; when he said that everyone cared about her, she felt like a burden was lifted off of her shoulders…

Only for it to be placed right back on. Now she was having conflicted feelings about this new caring treatment.

But then the doubt slipped back in that perhaps this is all just a joke. Mabel wouldn't lie, that would be the ultimate prank if they had surprised her with a shock that nobody cared about her after all. And then the battle between her heart and brain would begin. Mabel's heart would pump out the message that she was cared about meanwhile her brain would ooze some brutal honesty; saying she was the scum of the earth that nobody cared about.

But really, the question is….Which approach does she want? How that question could be answered, Mabel had no idea.

Ford led his niece inside the bistro.

He sat Mabel down at a table while he went to order some food.

Mabel looked out the window. There was a tremendous amount of fog on the glass pane.

She lifted her hand and let the tip of her index finger create a gap through the fog.

She ended up drawing a hat with a Pine Tree label on the window, causing a couple of people to glance at her confusedly.

"What do you want sweetie?" The voice of her Great Uncle stunned her for a second.

"Uh…Just a glass of water"

Mabel tapped her hands on her knees. She had no idea how this chat was going to go down…

Ford returned to his niece with a glass of water. Mabel took the drink gratefully and took a small sip of it before putting it on the table. Ford sat down with his hands folded together and arms set on the table.

"A-aren't you going to eat or drink anything?" Mabel asked. The discomfiture in her voice was obvious.

"No. I'm fine. Besides, I think we should get straight to business here…" The way Ford's knuckles cracked as he stretched them out put Mabel on edge.

She looked down at the water in her glass in an attempt to distract herself from the stares that were directed at her.

They all looked pitiful. As if they felt sympathy for her but not as in; the poor girl is undergoing a sad stipulation in her life…

More as in; look at the little lonely dog on the streets.

Stanford could sense her uneasiness and decided that they should move over to a more private spot.

As Lazy Susan was walking by, he tapped her on the arm.

"And what can I do for you Ford. You cute little oldie"

Ford ignored her comment and instead got right to the chase, "Can we be granted permission to the private room?"

Susan looked skeptical for a literal millisecond before bursting into a fit of giggles.

"Of course you can go silly!"

This confused Mabel. Didn't they have to do some sort of agreement, or maybe pay in order to enter the 'private' room or…Do something at least.

"Thank you" Ford muttered, holding onto Mabel's hand and walking into behind the counter.

"Where is this secret room?"

"Right here" Right behind a shelf of plates was a door with the labels 'Very Extremely Incredibly Private Room'.

"What an original name" Ford whispered, not wanting to make any snarky comments out loud with the girl beside him.

The steel knob of the door was touched by Stanford's cold hand and he slowly turned it before pulling.

It didn't open. He frowned. It was locked.

His first instinct was to go back and ask Lazy Susan to give him the accessible requirement for him to make his way through the room.

But he then remembered the golden key in his pocket. He rummaged through the pouches that were on attached to the sides of his jacket and eventually pulled out the object in question.

"What is that?" Mabel asked in curiosity. Ford slipped the precious entity back into his pockets.

"It's a special key that...I conveniently found" He could see that she didn't believe him but nothing on the matter had exited her lips. Thankfully.

He didn't need to start thinking about explaining this town's absurd nature to the kid. She was already a broken disc with her family issues, giving her a reason to be physically hurt by one of those ugly disgusting monstrosities that ruled the woods.

The only sound was their breaths that were increased by how the cold air managed to sneak into the room without any warnings or ahead of time implications.

Mabel sighed as she prepared to say something that remained a sensitive and horrifying memory inside of her head…Unfortunately.

Ford leaned back in his chair waiting for his niece to start talking. He wasn't going to force her. They had plenty of time. Way more than they ever needed.

Her high-pitched voice broke the silence of the room. His eyes widened at her words.

"Do you know exactly how Dipper died?"

 _ **XORUUSZMTVIH XORUUSZMTVIH XORUUSZMTVIH XORUUSZMTVIH**_

 _ **GSVRI QFHG HL NFXS UFM**_

 _ **XORUUSZMTVIH XORUUSZMTVIH XORUUSZMTVIH XORUUSZMTVIH**_

 _ **RM XLNVH NB XLOWSVZIGVW NLLM, LFG TLVH BLFI DZINSVZIGVW HFM**_

 _ **How did Dipper die? And how will this entire session between Mabel and Ford go? Find out on the next chapter. I'm sorry that this took a little while to post but honestly, writing isn't nearly as easy you might think it is. I constantly have to make sure I'm not reusing words over and over again. That would become annoying for the reader. I hope you guys liked that chapter. And one question that surely you're asking, or most of you are asking is…Where did Stanford get that key? Well…Let's wait for that part of the story when we approach there.**_


	6. The Downfall Of Dipper Pines

_**This is the longest chapter yet. I have the next few chapters planned out and let me tell you, they are quite long. Not as long as this but still over about the five thousand word mark. Anyways, this chapter is basically Mabel telling the backstory behind Dipper's death. The way this is written is; the italics will be the backstory and the regular writing will be Mabel or Ford speaking. The feels here are quite big and…It was actually really hard for me to write some of the scenes of Dipper's backstory cause it's not the typical 'Suicide' story nor is it a 'tragic car death'. It's something that when you sit down and think about, is actually really dark….This might sound a little foolish but I hope none of you stop reading this story because of the little elements of darkness here and there. The story will undoubtedly get better in progression but for this particular chapter, there is minimal light heartedness. I also apologize for any grammar or punctuation mistakes. If there is a huge error in the writing, please let me know in your review.**_

 _ **Summary~ Mabel Pines and her family move to their Great Uncle Ford's house/tourist trap; 'The Mystery Shack' in Gravity Falls. With Mabel in deep depression, Ford finds someone who he can finally relate to. But she was so broken, he didn't want her to live in this state. However, is it a good idea to build a bond with his niece? What troubles will occur?**_

 _ **"You'd be surprised at how much you can have in common with someone completely different from you"- Unknown**_

"Do you know how Dipper died?" Those six words were entirely unexpected. Stanford could sense the tenseness radiating from the pores of her skin.

"Mabel, you don't have to talk about something as personal as that…" He reached out for her hand but she snatched it back to her lap

"No, it's okay. It's better if I rip that bandage off now rather than later. Not the one on my forehead of course…" She muttered glumly.

He copied Mabel's motion, resting his hands in his laps.

They both fiddled with their fingers as a few seconds of muteness passed. In any other situation, Ford would encourage her to talk more and pour her heart out but this wasn't something that he could pass off. Death was not a subject to be toyed with.

"No" Ford muttered. When he had been informed about the death of

"Take your time Mabel. You're safe here. At your own pace, you can speak; alright?" She nodded and he could see her facial appearance soften to some extent.

A sigh left her lips. Ford could see the doubt in her eyes. She was in the midst of having a mental argument with herself. Should she trust him or not?

The former won out in her mind and she began to tell the entire story.

The entire story.

"So, Dipper used to get bullied a lot in school...I-in fact, he was bullied ever since Kindergarten"

* * *

 _Dipper gulped down the huge lump in his throat, telling himself that everything would go along smoothly and that there would be zero problems. It was the first day of school. Literally. He was standing in front of Piedmont Elementary School, his hands tightly clutching the straps of his black and white backpack._

 _Before he did anything else though, he took the little Pine Tree symbol that was laid upon his neck and kissed it. It was a necklace that was given to him as a gift from his dad, Marshall Pines. He had no idea where he got it from or anything like that but he sure as heck loved it. Not only did it look cool, the blue Pine Tree looking as bright as the ocean, but it also represented his last name; Pines._

 _But the necklace surprisingly did little to comfort him._

 _The nervousness that was growing inside of his body was…Scary. He had never felt this scared before._

 _His twin sister, Mabel, had said that everything would go fine but he didn't actually believe her. He just nodded along so that she wouldn't waste time trying to cheer him up._

 _He patiently waited for the bell. The second he heard the loud ring, he ran as fast as he could, reaching the inside of the educational system._

 _He nearly tripped, causing some people to stifle their giggles but that didn't bother him._

 _It was his first day at school ever and he didn't want to be late for class. His legs wobbled underneath him as he ran but he wouldn't quit the fast pace that he was currently going at._

 _However, his face soon morphed into one of disappointment and fear when a teacher who was walking in the hallways had put up a hand in front of him._

" _No running in the hallways kid. Didn't you read the rules in your agenda when your parents retrieved them" The tone in his voice was threatening. It scared him._

' _I don't like this' Dipper thought. He could already feel his internal organs weakening as his mental state of mind shattered. He hadn't even been inside the school for more than two minutes and was already told off by a teacher. That had to be a sign for what was to come next for him._

 _He walked ashamedly, the sound of his black and white shoes clicking against the dark green floor resounded throughout the building._

 _Few minutes later he came to a stop. A big wooden door was in front of him. His hand shakily reached up for the knob. The cold protrusion was touched by his index finger. He let out a scared and ragged breath before smoothly in one motion opening the door and closing it behind him._

 _He felt his heartbeat increase as the batch of what looked like twenty students turned their heads toward him._

 _His eyes scanned the entire classroom before his gaze landed on a recognizable face in the small distance. He inwardly smiled as he saw his twin sister Mabel wave at him with a bright grin._

 _But all of the inner self-tension returned when his vision caught a blonde haired boy, smirking at him with a whisper of a glare hidden behind his deadly blue eyes._

 _The female teacher turned her head from where she was sitting at her light grey desk, flashing him a heart-warming smile. But it didn't do much to warm his thick ice coated nerves. He wore a fake smile on his face, waving at the entirety of the classroom._

" _Alright kids, we greet him the same way he greeted Mabel. I believe you two are twins, right?" Mabel and Dipper both nodded simultaneously but it could be clearly seen that Dipper felt a little bit of reluctance in himself before sending a physical yes. He considered lying about him and Mabel being related in any way because if people knew a beautiful and creative girl like Mabel was related to a party pooper and ugly looking boy such as Dipper, Mabel would probably lack in the friends category. But he knew it was a dumb idea. His sister wouldn't approve anything about that plan._

 _Dipper let out a breath he didn't he was holding in. Despite the kindergarten classes being fairly simple, the intensity that surrounded both his physical body and conceptual intellect had been fairly pressurizing. The fierce eyes from the kids in the classroom made him shiver but his sister's bright and cheerful eyes added with a precious smile had lightened up his spirits and lit off his confidence spark._

 _But now it was recess and he yet again felt uncomfortable. Out of place. A lone sheet of paper with a blank face and back while others were organized notebooks, every single page filled with personality and colors._

 _He shifted his small red shirt as he walked towards the playground, his hands tightly grasping the insides of his pockets that were implemented on the sides of his black shorts. Before he could even make five steps, a foot interrupted his quiet stroll by stepping in front of his coordinated amble and he fell on the concrete, his knee catching a pebble on the ground and causing it to erupt massive loads of red substance._

" _Blood" Dipper whispered, his voice cracking at the horrifying sight. He had gotten injured before; a small papercut, a broken nail, a stubbed toe, a splinter and even a bruised rib but this…_

 _This was incomparable. A small rock had buried itself deep under his kneecap, right where his thigh is. He let out a shriek of pain as he tried to stand._

 _Then his brain had reminded him that he had been tripped. He glanced back and fell onto the concrete, back first, with a small whimper. Right in front of him was the blonde boy with the threatening blue pupils, staring at him with a wide a grin while two brown haired boys giggled behind him._

" _Hey there…What's your name again?" Dipper shook his head from left to right, giving them a big no-no. He's not going to tell them anything after what they did to him. He tried to get up, despite the colossal amount of agony in his right thigh but his back was grabbed harshly and his entire body was thrown to the concrete with incredible force._

 _The blonde boy roughly stepped on his chest as he spit on the ground, the disgusting fluid landing right next to his head. He cried as the other two boys standing behind him came forward and held his arms down, preventing any chance of escape._

 _Dipper's eyes desperately darted around, looking for some assistance; ideally from his twin sister but no one of help was found. He felt a little anger build up in his chest._

 _Where the heck were the supervisors?!_

" _Do you remember my name?" Dipper would've have jumped up and shrug off all the boys surrounding him just like those movies…_

 _If he had that capability of thunderous strength. Instead he decided to go with the flow. Perhaps answering every one of his questions would loosen him up and he could get away from every single one of these maniacs._

 _He could hear the giggling of some girls near him. His head turned towards them, hoping that they could help but any chances of that were instantaneously crushed into little fragments of hurt. The girls were laughing at him._

 _A brunette stepped up, walking towards the blonde kid with a hand laid over her mouth in a poor attempt to stifle some noises of hilarity escaping her mouth._

 _She whispered something in the blonde's hair before winking at him. She covered her eyes from Dipper's scrawny figure but opened up one of her fingers to reveal a sympathetic eye._

" _Sorry kid" She walked away and Dipper watched furiously? Sorry? How about helping the kid rather than just muttering a barely audible apology?_

 _Dipper felt the effects of a shoeprint pressing lightly on his injured knee. He shrieked out in pain and desperately called for his other half, knowing she would be here in the blink of an eye. Or at least that's what he was hoping for._

" _What's my name?" Dipper gulped._

" _Ryle Stultus" Ryle smiled._

" _Yeah. A really cool name, isn't it?"_

" _Yes, yes….If only you knew the meaning behind your last name…" Dipper couldn't help but mutter that last part. Luckily, Ryle hadn't heard him. He didn't think he could handle any more damage to his skinny little body._

 _Ryle pressed his finger on Dipper's forehead, flicking the hair covering his embarrassing birthmark._

 _Ryle and his two friends, Stultitia Birch and Victus Orifack laughed at the constellation marked on his temple._

" _Oh! Now I remember what your name is!" He cracked his knuckles while Stultitia snapped his fingers in remembrance._

" _Dipper Pines! What a sucky name!" Ryle bent forward and slapped him. He now publicly sobbed as a group of students surrounded him. He sobbed even harder as none of them showed any noticeable signs of sympathy or anger._

 _Some of them laughed, some of them gasped and some of them had thrown some woodchips from the playground on him. He choked as one piece fell in his mouth._

 _He spat out the disgusting woodchip. It fell out of his mouth, completely drenched in saliva._

 _Kids let out a disgusted 'ew', stepping back away from his pained form. All of a sudden an old voice could be heard through the air, sending goosebumps down every single student's spine._

" _MOVE AWAY THIS INSTANT!" The kids scattered away. Ryle, Stultitia and Victus had ran away from Dipper but probably with purposeful intentions, Ryle had kicked a miniscule woodchip backwards with the sole of his shoe into Dipper's right eye before dusting his clothes off hurriedly as his legs took massive rushed steps to where there was a good distance away from the scene of Dipper's horrifying state._

 _The Vice Principal, Mr. Diaopulous was now standing in front of the broken boy. He let out a small groan, lending his hand towards Dipper._

 _Dipper was completely lost of any trust though. He didn't know what this guy was going to do. He closed his eyes tightly and whispered no as he swatted away the old mans arms. He was then carried and for a second, he thought he was going to be thrown onto the ground with immense power but instead he was carried in the man's lap and brought inside the school._

 _He wiped at his eyes with a sadness that he hadn't felt in a long time. It was his first day! It was his first darn day and he's already gotten injured. His emotions were a wrecked ship and his body was tarnished of any confidence that he had built up earlier._

 _Mr. Diaopulous tried to soothe him by running his hands up and down his back but it was useless. There was only one person that could possibly cheer him up…Actually, he wasn't even sure that would work._

 _Dipper was carried to the office and set down on the black bench. The principal gave him a pack of ice for his thigh as he contacted his parents to tell them about the incident._

" _You're going home kiddo…" Mr. Diaopulous muttered softly, his eyes showing slight disappointment at the prospect of a kid being sent home on the first day of school. Especially in such an unpleasant way. Dipper's eyes widened. It was the first day! THE FIRST DAY!_

 _And he was going home. Exiting the school like a coward because of his weak, fragile and useless body that couldn't defend itself._

 _He sniffled as his thigh throbbed with humongous bloody torture. The secretary of the office flashed sad eyes at him which really wasn't making him feel better. The symmetrical pattern he was noticing with all the adults in the school was that they all were giving him a message of 'sympathy'._

 _Perhaps they thought that this would make him feel lighter but instead it weighed more rocks on his already crumpled heart. It reminded him that no matter how much knowledge his brain sucked up, his body was still the same old fragment of glass that could be shattered within two seconds._

 _He rubbed his arms uncomfortably as he could hear the voice of his mother through the telephone from the office. She sounded worried and shocked. Just as he suspected. Although he had to admit that the small anger that was laced over her words was totally unexpected. The question swirling in his mind repeated itself…_

 _Was the anger because of the students who had beaten him up or was it because…She was frustrated with him? A wetness blurred his sight but looking up, he could see the blurred face of the secretary._

" _Hey...Can I see your knee for a second?" She asked. Dipper barely lifted his head up and down. Arguing with her wouldn't get him anywhere and would just cause more problems._

 _She grabbed his leg softly and brought it up closer to inspect the injustice that was his thigh's state._

 _She touched it gently, feeling the hard pebble lodged in there. Quite deeply at that too._

" _My name is Ms. Ferrell by the way" He nodded, glumly glancing at the way her fingers pressed onto the injury in a very light way. But it still sent a twinge of pain up his leg._

 _A soft sigh ejected from her lips and she looked up at him with a face that was indescribable._

" _Who did this to you? Or was it something that happened because of clumsiness?"_

 _A lone tear slid down Dipper's left cheek, dropping from his face to his lap. His black shorts were now slightly wetted with small drops of water that was leaking from his optics._

" _R-Ryle Stultus, Stultitia Birch and Victus Orifack…From my class" The blonde woman in front of him nodded and patted his head softly._

" _You'll be okay buddy. We're going to give those kids one huge punishment for what they did to you" He was about to stop her. If those kids found out he told on them, they would hurt him even more! But he decided that there was also a possibility that if those kids got an actual well-deserved detention or maybe even something bigger, than it had the flip side of the quarter that was more sunny that the other; They would never hurt him again._

 _He whispered a pained "Okay" as she walked back into her office, leaving him there, sitting on the bench._

" _We are sorry for this interruption but could Ryle Stultus, Stultitia Birch and Victus Orifack please come up to the school office…This instant" The harsh voice of Ms. Ferrell was goose-bump material._

 _The phone call in the office ended and Mr. Diaopulous walked out, flashing him a sad smile. "Your mother will be coming soon to pick you up"_

 _Dipper looked down at the floor. Then he thought about something that he hadn't even considered before;_

 _What about Mabel? He didn't know where she was but he had a suspecting feeling that maybe she's...She's getting bullied right now._

 _He felt the sudden urge to stand up and burst into his classroom, protecting Mabel from any bullies and mean students but he knew that was nearly impossible because of his condition._

 _Now he slumped forward on the bench. Mabel would be getting a handful of insults thrown at her because of him. She would be ridiculed because she's the twin sister of such a failure. People would treat her as bad as him or maybe even worse…_

 _Or maybe they would praise her for being so much better than her pathetic and practically non-existent brother since he barely got noticed._

 _He quietly sobbed as his hands covered up his hideous face. The air within the school office was extraordinarily uncomfortable as small choked cries came out of his mouth._

 _He heard the door to the office open, prompting him to lift his head. He was shocked when he saw her twin sister standing there with tears flowing from her eyes. She had a pink sketchbook in her hands and a crayon pencil. He let out a small 'oh' as he realized;_

 _She had been in the more quiet area of the school playground, coloring in her precious and wonderful sketchbook. Of course she wouldn't have heard of his injury because she was in a much more peaceful area._

 _He felt like an idiot. Why did he think going into the playground with a bunch of strangers would be a good idea? He should have listened to his sister when she suggested he come with her into the 'forest' type place that was in the boundaries of the educational building._

 _His sister ran up to him and hugged his body with a small touch of tenderness but still managed to squeeze him, sending the loving message._

 _She stroked his hair as she sobbed in his shoulder. The working adults within the office let out a small smile at the scene. As heartbreaking as it was, it was nice to see a pair of siblings who actually got along for once._

 _Dipper pulled her away and sniffled, more sad remnants of water dripping down from his stupid eyes._

" _I'm so sorry Mabel-"_

" _Shut up. Why are you sorry? I should be sorry! I was 'too busy' coloring in my stupid, stupid sketchbook when I should have helped you Dippy! I'm such a bad sister!" She said, crying in her own tiny hands._

 _Dipper pried them apart from her face and gave her a small but shaky smile. "You're not a bad sister Mabel. You are a wonderful sister. But I'm a weak stupid boy. I didn't do anything to defend myself. I just let them beat me up. I surrendered. I'm sorry for being weak Maby" He entwined their hands together, both of their tears falling onto them._

" _Stop being dumb Dipper. You are not weak. You are smart Dip. You are very smart" She kissed his hand and hugged him tightly._

 _He appreciated the loving embrace but she had accidentally touched his knee, causing him to moan out in pain._

 _She backed up and gasped at his knee. "Dipper, you have a rock stuck in your leg!" He touched the pebble that was very uncomfortably lodged into his thigh, wincing at the stinging sensation that rung through his entire body._

" _Ah….AH!" He hugged his sister in a desperate attempt to feel some warmth. The pebble was unbelievably cold and it sent chills down his spine._

 _Mabel cradled her brother's head in her lap as a 'ding' sounded throughout the building._

" _Your mother's here" Mr. Diaopulous patted the Dipper's head as the TV screen that was stuck to the wall in the top right corner showed their mom, Rebecca Pines, opening the door to the school with an expression of discomfort etched on her countenance._

 _Mr. Diaopulous than glanced at Mabel with some confusion rushing in his head._

" _Mabel, aren't you going to stay at school?"_

 _Mabel looked at him and she didn't even need to say a word for him to understand the seriousness of the situation. He knew that there was a saying that 'twins are always together' or something like that but the tear shimmering in her eyes, reflected by the LED vertical lights above them, making them even more shiny._

 _He nodded, shoving his hands into the pockets of his navy blue pants. The sound of someone rushing up the stairs had filled the twin's ears and soon enough, the door opened to reveal a worried looking Rebecca Pines._

" _Oh Dipper!" She ran up to her son and kneeled in front of him, taking note of the circumstances of his leg._

" _Oh my….It's worse than I thought" She hugged him gently and allowed Dipper to cry in her shoulder. Rebecca patted her sons head as her own tears slipped away from her eyes._

 _She glanced at Mabel and signaled for her to join in on the familial snuggle._

 _She ran into her mother's arms, crying into her shoulder as well. Rebecca stroked her daughter's long brown hair while she patted Dipper's cheek softly._

 _She sniffled as both of the twins received a small kiss on the forehead. Usually they would be embarrassed at this type of affection in public but right now, all they wanted was the warm feeling of their mother's arms._

 _Rebecca signed both of them out and drove them home. She had already phoned Marshall and told him about the unfortunate events that had taken place. She was still in a shocked position at the fact that her precious little constellation, Dipper had gotten bullied and injured on the first day of school._

" _Those fucking jokers that did this to you Dip…" She muttered under her breath when she noticed Dipper and Mabel had fallen asleep in the backseat of the car._

 _They got home and soon enough, after his painfully long hard day of work, Marshall had returned._

 _Marshall rarely ever showed massive affection for the kids. It wasn't that he didn't love them, he just liked to speak with them or maybe put an arm around them but tight hugs were very rare from him._

 _So when he had brought both of them in his arms, they were very surprised. Even Rebecca was._

 _Dipper had to deal with the terrifying process of alcohol being swabbed on his skin. The pebble his thigh wasn't something that could be pulled out softly. It needed to be taken out in a rough way. Sure, it would hurt at first but the slower the process, the more painful it would be._

 _He didn't want Marshall to do it though. Neither did her want Rebecca to do it. He loved both of his parents but right now, he wanted his sister to treat his horrible and very much painful turmoil._

 _Mabel had walked up to him, not looking like the Mabel he knew and loved. She was in pain._

 _The first thing she had promised to Dipper, literally right before their first day at school was that she would make sure he didn't get into any trouble…_

 _Yet a few hours later, here he was in the worst shape she had seen him in so far. Nothing in the past could compare to this._

 _Mabel hugged her brother once more but this one was different. It wasn't rough…It wasn't gentle._

 _It barely felt like a hug. It gave him the feeling that she was holding herself back from giving him too much warmth because she probably was upset at herself for breaking her promise._

 _Mabel was sure her brother would at least be the tiniest bit upset and sure enough, when she looked up; the facial appearance of her brother resembled a glare._

 _She let silent tears slip down her face as her hands reached out for the yellow cloth and she poured a little alcohol on it. He looked up from his sister and noticed his dad watching them from afar._

 _He was a bit annoyed at him for viewing them like a hawk but at the same time, he knew it was for their safety. As much as he and his parents trusted Mabel to take great care of him, the worry of something going wrong was floating in the air. Mabel wasn't an adult. She could make a mistake._

 _But so far, she was doing well. She rubbed his knee area with some alcohol, making him hiss like a snake. He groaned in pain and watched his dad and sister look up at him with a deep sadness._

 _But Mabel's look practically killed him on the insides. He glared harder at his sister when he heard her mumble "All my fault"._

 _After the alcohol was spread all over the place, she reached for the pebble and tried to pull it out as gracefully as she could but no matter what she did, a cry escaped her brother's lips._

 _Marshall picked up his daughter and put her on the couch._

" _Don't worry sweetie, you don't have to do that" Mabel frowned as she watched her father reached for his leg and roughly grab the pebble._

 _Dipper let out the ugliest cry Mabel had ever heard and Marshall winced at the very unpleasant noise that was coming from his son's mouth._

" _I'm…I'm sorry Dipper but it'll only hurt for a while. I promise" He grasped the pebble and pulled it out with all his might._

 _When the pebble did come out, a blood waterfall gushed out, making Mabel gasp. She got up from the couch and grabbed the box of cotton bandages from the red box that was kept in the corner of their living room._

 _Marshall thanked her and took the bandage, wrapping it around his knee with extra pressure. Although the massive weight on his leg might've hurt like heck, it was good to prevent the blood from flowing out to the floor, leaving a red trail everywhere he goes. That wouldn't be good for anybody and would cause a whole new plethora of problematic situations._

 _Dipper let out heavy breaths, unable to speak as Marshall and Mabel patted him on the shoulder. Rebecca popped her head from the corner of the stair case and wore a small smile on her face._

" _You'll get through this Dipper" She muttered, wiping a tear from her left eye._

 _Night time had come around and Mabel had to help her bro-bro up the stairs. She giggled as her brother drooled a bit but a guilty look took over her face as she brought him into the room they shared together._

 _She sat him down on his bed and climbed in with him, shooting out words of utter embarrassment._

" _I really am a bad sister" Dipper glared at his twin, causing daggers to aim at Mabel's heart._

" _I should have been with you. Then at least we could share the damage" Dipper sat up and hugged her hard, ignoring the little bit of pain rising in his knee._

" _Don't ever say that! I don't know what I would do if you had gotten hurt!" He sobbed and so did Mabel as he stroked her brown hair._

" _You're an idiot Mabel"_

" _W-what?" She asked, hurt in her voice._

" _You're an idiot if you think that I'm mad at you for not being there. I'm mad at you because you keep insulting yourself. You are the best sister in history! I don't want you to feel bad! I will be okay soon! I can go to school and we can spend time with each other! Don't treat yourself bad…For me Maby" He delicately pinched her index finger before twisting it into the gaps of his own._

" _Pinkie promise?"_

 _She grinned as she kissed her brother on the cheek. "Pinkie promise" They fell asleep in each other's arms, smiling as they dreamt of a much happier first day at school…_

 _Little did they know this was only a taste of the horrendous events to follow..._

* * *

By the end of what was seemingly only Mabel's prologue to this tragic tale, he had taken off his glasses and was dabbing at his eyes with a napkin from his pocket.

' _Damn it Ford, stop letting you inner softie overpower you. You got to stay strong for her'_ He thought.

He cleared his throat as his eyes took in Mabel's composure. She looked…Sad? He couldn't tell. There was a sense of monotone in her face. Hell, she even sounded monotone when telling the entire thing.

Unknowingly, Mabel's story had put a massive boulder on his heart.

' _I remember when I used to have someone clean my cuts and bruises for me…'_

One glance into her eyes and Ford could sense his niece absorbing more stiffness into her skin. He wiped the slight sweat on his forehead that was dripping there due to the fact that he was wearing a freaking trench coat inside of a restaurant.

Mabel opened her mouth to continue the story but Ford laid his six fingered hand over her tiny one and grabbed it softly. She seemed to dislike the action as she moved her hand away from his grasp in a matter of milliseconds.

Ford felt bile rising up his throat as he tried to speak.

Her story must have hit home closer that he thought…

"M-Mabel, you don't have to continue if you don't want to. We can talk another day or if you want, you can keep to yourself"

He could have sworn there was a small piece of agreement on Mabel's face. It seemed one part of her wanted to set a cancellation on this entire session while the other's pressurized her into continuing it, no matter how painful the memories were.

"N-no. I need to continue"

"No you don't"

"W-….Well I want to" Her tone wasn't convincing in the slightest bit. In fact, Ford almost let out a noise of amusement at her 'totally believable statement' but that would only make things worse. Now was not the time to be an asshole.

"Okay…Well…Again, like I said before; take your time" She nodded, letting out a small breath before taking a sip of her water.

She set the glass down on the table and fiddled with her fingers as her mouth developed words to describe the story in the fastest yet clearest way she could.

"So after that horrifying first day, the bullying got…Even worse. But luckily those times, I was there to cheer him up…" A small smile crept up on her face.

* * *

 _Kindergarten;_

 _Dipper took a bite out of his sandwich, letting out a sound of approval. Mabel smiled as she already downed half of her own sandwich in a matter of minutes. He couldn't blame her. They were both starving since breakfast was a bit rushed and dull._

 _Dipper opened his mouth to take another gulp of his delicious lunch but a pale hand reached in front of his face and grabbed the meal straight from his hands._

" _Hey!" His breath got stuck in his throat when he saw it was none other than Ryle Stultus and his two friends._

" _Hey Dippy bud. Want to play a game of fetch?" He threw the boys lunch far away._

 _Dipper bit his lip and held back tears as he saw his sandwich hit the floor with a squash, the sauce from the inside spilling out onto the floor._

 _Ryle pushed him forward but numbness was all Dipper could feel. However, his eyes widened when he saw his sister push the blonde kid backwards, making him stumble onto Stultitia and Victus._

" _Leave my brother alone you meanies! NOW!" Her hand transformed into a fist as she punched Ryle's shoulder, probably leaving a small bruises there._

 _A groan of pain left the blondes lips but his face soon reformed into one of anger. He reached forward to hurt Mabel but she had blocked his punch and kicked his…._

 _Ouch. She kicked the most sensitive area of any boy on planet earth. The boy crumbled to the ground, moaning in pain._

 _Stultitia and Victus carried their friend away with fearfulness swimming in their spirits. Dipper still frowned at his now filthy lunch on the ground. Mabel sensing his upset behavior broke her sandwich in half and shared it with her glum twin._

" _Here you go buddy!" A smile was flashed in her direction. It was the beautiful beam on his face that brightened her day up all the way. Despite them possibly being in trouble._

 _The twins had been sent to the office since they had started physical chaos but were let off the hook since the situation was understandable._

" _You'd think those idiots would know not to mess with you after their punishment from the principal! But they didn't! They came back and tried to hut you Dip. But I made sure you didn't get hurt! Now I'm the one who punished them! But my punishment to those morons was much more brutal and painful than the one Mr. Diaopulous gave them. No one messes with my bro-bro" She said, giving Dipper a side hug._

 _The constellation-named boy gave her a toothy grin and enveloped her in a tight hug._

" _Thanks Maby"_

" _No problem Dipping sauce!"_

* * *

 _Grade One;_

 _Dipper smiled as he finished his drawing of a dragon. It had fierce yellow eyes and red wings while the torso was a bit blackish with an orange hue hidden behind the dark shade._

 _He got up from his seat to show off his little hand-drawn picture but the paper was snatched out from his hands roughly._

 _He sighed, knowing who it would be. He turned around to be greeted by the very distasteful Ryle Stultus. This time his two friends were nowhere to be found but that didn't do much to calm down his nerves. He frowned as he watched him ridicule his drawing._

" _A dragon? Really? Hahahaha! Hey everybody, look at fantasy freak boy over here!" Dipper's unhappiness only increased further throughout his body when he heard the laughter from the class contagiously spread around._

 _His heart broke when he saw that even the teacher was getting a kick out of this. Amusement was written over his face and cachinnation escaping his mouth._

 _Dipper's eyes filled with tears as he saw Ryle rip up his drawing, the horrible tearing sound of the paper filling up the air._

 _He looked towards Mr. Davidson for some back up but he simply chuckled as_

 _He laughed devilishly as he let the torn sheet fall onto the tiled floor._

 _Dipper picked up his now spoiled artwork and ran out of the classroom, ignoring the calls from that escaped the teacher's mouth._

 _His feet cycled up and down before stopping in front of the door that leads to the stairs case._

 _He sat at the bottom of the set of steps, weeping into his diminutive hands._

 _The sound of his cries filled the hollow area. Why couldn't Ryle just leave him alone? What did he achieve from bullying him? The reputation of a jerk? That's not something anyone would want to achieve!_

 _Dipper let out a grunt, angry at the way he was being treated. It was only when a thumb jammed itself into his left chubby cheek that he realized how long he had been sitting in the same position._

 _He turned around to be met by something much better than Ryle's stupid jerk face. Mabel sat next to her brother, overlapping his hand with hers._

" _What's wrong broseph?"_

 _He closed his eyes and proceeded to spill out the frustration and gloom that was crammed inside of his small little gut._

 _Although he and Mabel had fallen into the same class for Kindergarten, Grade One had them in different rooms with different teachers. He wished so much that he could be in Mabel's classroom! Not just because he wants to be together with his sister (Even though the central point of why he wanted to switch) but also because he thought that Mr. Jimothy was a way better educational figure rather than Mr. Davidson, a careless teacher who thought everything was funny. He yelled at a kid once for bumping into him through the hallway! What kind of teacher does that?!_

 _The madness that was contained within Mabel had spilled onto her face. She wanted to punch the teacher and all the kids that laughed at him in the face for thinking they could get away with humiliating Dipper. What was it going to take for Ryle to understand that messing with her brother also means messing with her?_

 _Her eyesight then caught the loused up illustration in his hand. She snapped her fingers as an idea came to her mind._

" _Wait right here! I'll be back!" She left, much to Dipper's dismay. He clasped his chin, murmuring nonsensical insults towards Ryle and his stupid buddies Stultita and Victus, even if those two weren't there when the entire class made fun of him…Including the god darn teacher._

 _His sister came rushing down to his aid once more but this time had….Tape in her hands?_

 _The annoying noise of the tape ripping apart from its cardboard base was now the only noise distributing through the quiet staircase._

 _Mabel ripped off a long strip of transparent tape. She took the two torn up pieces and slid them together as if they were a puzzle piece, making them connect perfectly, not one single flaw found._

 _She then stuck the tape very carefully over the page. The entire process was supremely intense for her. If she messed up, she would have to take the tape off and restart but by then, there would already be a portion from the paper that had its skin ripped off._

 _She puckered her lips and smacked them together, making a noise that was similar to the ones chef's make when they finished a well done meal._

 _She held up the now fixed drawing in front of his face._

 _He hadn't meant to look up but it looked like his body disobeyed his mental orders and went ahead, tilting the head the slightest bit upwards to find his drawing of the imaginary dragon repaired._

" _Mabel! You fixed it!" He tackled her, making them fall down on the wide stair step._

 _She chuckled as his arms tightly held her waist. He lifted his head up and gave his sister a big kiss on the cheek._

 _The lights on the roof made the pastel colors on the sheet shine. Dipper kissed his drawing, eliciting a fit of laughs from Mabel._

" _What are you laughing at Princess Mabelton?" He asked accusingly, hands on his hips._

" _Oh, just laughing at your weird affection for your drawing Prince Dippington" They tickled each other, the sound of their giggles now filling the quietude that was sprinkled everywhere in the room. Dipper smiled at his sister, ignoring the angry calls of Mr. Davidson. That guy could go take a hike. He wanted to spend some time with his twin. Not sit in class, reading the boring book that was 'The Magnificence of Art; How to draw right'. There was no 'way to draw right. Art is never wrong. Never._

* * *

Ford sadly smiled at his niece, watching her swirl the water in her glass.

"You were really close with your brother, weren't you?" He knew it was a dumb question but she didn't seem to mind, giving him a beautiful smile that brightened his heart.

"Yes…Yes I was" Ford could have sworn that she looked like a perfectly normal girl at the moment. She had a look of contempt on her face and the features on her countenance had become…less depressed and happier. The bags under her eyes had seemingly disappeared, although not fully. He could still see some lines there but for the most part, the tiredness had drained out. Her eyes had also transformed from emotionless to enjoyment. He watched her stop fiddling with her fingers and instead now, she was tapping them softly onto her glass.

But in the flash of an eye blink, her face resorted back to nervousness and now he could see something he'd never seen before her.

Yes, his eyesight was unfortunate enough to catch her crying sadly in the corner and every single encounter they had so far was particularly unpleasant.

But her expression right now was unreadable. It was scared…Sad…And angry.

"But…Grade Two changed everything" Ford brushed off some dirt from the edge of his trench coat.

"The bullying got worse. Dipper would then get pushed into lockers, get woodchips thrown down the neck of his vest when he wasn't looking, he would be called bad names in the hallway and students would repeatedly point out how weak he is. Even our gym teacher had joined in on the fun, making fun of Dipper's lack of masculinity"

' _Would've loved to punch that teacher in the face'_ Ford thought.

"Everything was going downhill for Dipper but things completely crashed when Dipper and I attended a party that was going on in the school at nighttime"

"Oh boy…" Ford whispered.

* * *

 _Dipper's lips formed into a thin straight line. He gently breathed onto the mirror, a patch of fog forming on the reflecting object._

 _He looked pretty decent if he were to say himself. Not the handsomest, but definitely not as ugly as he usually is._

 _Although, despite the slight improvement in his fashionable outlook, he had to admit this black suit was really, really tight and uncomfortable._

 _He almost suggested to himself for a second that perhaps he should just show up to the party in regular clothing rather than trying to fit in with the other fancy people. But no, this was a party and that meant there would be more people at the school than usual. Not only would the students who already attend Piedmont Elementary School be there, but in addition to that, kids from other schools would be coming over._

 _He was extremely nervous but this was his chance to show that he can be cool like the other people in his classroom._

 _Unfortunately for him and a bunch of other innocent children, Ryle and his two doofus friends would be attending the little celebration._

 _His fingers went towards the Pine Tree necklet as he pulled it up to his face and kissed the blue symbol. It made him feel happy for a second but soon multiple emotions started rummaging through his head, the main one being confusion._

 _Dipper wasn't sure one bit as to why the school had decided to hold anything remotely close to a festivity._

 _In his mind, he undoubtedly thought that an assembly would take place rather than some social gathering. So when the news broke out that a party would be taking place, he was…Deflated. Mabel of course was ecstatic about it, especially since she had actually gained a couple of friends. She tried to fill him up with excitement and confidence but he had dismissed that idea._

 _Of course, she kept trying to make him get into a mood that was fit for partying. Just to get her off his back, he agreed. It was a pain in the coconuts to agree to everything she said. Dressing, flirting with girls, dancing and singing._

 _He wasn't planning to do any of those things but after a deep sleep in which he had a visualization of him doing all of what Mabel told him to do and gaining tons of popularity, he had decided that it was for the best._

 _But one step at a time, he would be following these little bits of recommendation from his sister._

 _He had dressed up fairly well, he had practiced dancing to the tune of 'Disco Girl' and he had also sung that amazing classic song by BABBA._

 _He probably wasn't going to showcase any format of dancing or singing but surely, the dress code was put on for a good show._

 _The brown comb that was laid lazily on top of the brown shelf was grasped by Dipper's right hand, his fingers feeling the sharpness of the pricks that were designed on it._

 _Footsteps could be heard behind him as he clumsily combed his hair, probably looking like an idiot._

 _A soft skinned hand took the object out of his hands and decided to do the task for him. His hair was straightened into, at least for him, perfection. He knew that for the human beings that reeked of 'fanciness' were probably scoffing at him for thinking that such amateur dressing and hair was 'fantastic'._

 _He turned around to meet the grinning face of his twin sister Mabel._

 _A sudden wave of guilt crashed over him, causing his lips to form into a small frown. He had been sort of a jerk to his twin in the past few weeks._

 _Actually, come to think of it; He'd been a jerk to her ever since 2_ _nd_ _grade started. The bullying that was evoked by Ryle had quickly washed over the entire school, spreading like a virus._

 _He had been furious over the constant mocking and insults. When he noticed Mabel had managed to make a couple of friends, he had grown some envy for her._

 _It was pretty obvious she would be the one to first make friends but that wasn't what he was worried about. The people who she had supposedly 'connected' with were bystanders to him._

 _Mary, Jane and Kiwa were the three were the three students that she had supposedly connected with. They all were in the same class so seeing each other was something that happened daily._

 _Mabel had always talked about how wonderful her friends were, and maybe they were really kind people if you got to know them personally…_

 _But he absolutely despised them. Whenever he would get cornered by a bunch of taller or stronger kids and get completely trashed, either physically or verbally, he sometimes noticed they were walking right by…_

 _And what did they do? Nothing._

 _Not….One…Single…Thing._

 _He was somewhat thankful that they didn't laugh like the other students but they still could have done something!_

 _Inform an adult, try to step in the situation or maybe even just wait there until it was all done and then help him up after the barrage of humiliation that was thrown at him finished up._

 _But instead, they simply walked by, paying little attention to him. He assumed it was because they didn't want to get hurt too but…It just seemed so cowardly to him._

 _Whenever Dipper had caught the sight of a child getting bullied for no apparent reason, he had always stepped in._

 _Of course, he always got beaten up and Marshall was getting unbelievably tired, having to patch up his son pretty much every other day._

 _At that point, Dipper had even thought about maybe being home-schooled so he didn't have to deal with the torture that went on inside of Piedmont Elementary School._

 _But that was a big no-no._

 _Standing here, with his hands in his pockets while Mabel tried to make his hair look outstanding made him really realize just how badly he had been treating her._

 _To other siblings, this was probably nothing. He wouldn't sleep in the same bed as her, he wouldn't eat next to her and at school, whenever she wanted to show him a drawing, he usually mumbled a very non-convincing 'Oh yeah, looks good' before walking off._

 _Maybe this was perceived as 'little things' to the public but considering the relationship Dipper and Mabel shared, this was very unusual and heartbreaking._

 _Even Rebecca and Marshall were astonished by Dipper's change in his behavior._

 _Mabel was too busy humming to take in Dipper's expressive self-loathing but her twin senses had detected something._

' _Oh no bro-bro. Something is bothering you and I'm going to find out what!" She said, picturing herself smiling evilly while rubbing her palms against each other._

 _Her eyes shifted from her previous focus which had been his hair down to her current focus, which was the frown on his face._

" _C'mon broseph! Turn that frown upside down!" She exclaimed, desperately trying to make her brother smile._

 _However, what she was not expecting at all was when her brother had hugged her, tightly. Very tightly._

" _I am sorry Mabel for how I've been treating you this year. I'm a jerky jerk face" He said, letting small tears fall onto his sisters beautiful red dress._

 _Mabel smiled as she patted his head, pulling him apart from her even though on the inside, she didn't want him to let go._

 _It had actually been quite a while since Dipper and Mabel shared a hug._

" _Its okay Dip. I forgive you. Even though I was never mad at you the whole time! Just a bit sad at how you kind of ignored me…" She mumbled, rubbing her shoulder._

 _Dipper flinched in disgust. He couldn't believe he had actually even dismissed any time with his sister for longer than three hours let alone almost half a year._

" _But you are not a jerky jerk-face. You are a sweetie sweet-face Dippy" She giggled as she lightly slapped his chubby cheek._

" _Oh, you think you can get away with this!?" The two laughed as they slapped each other's cheeks._

 _Their comedic little play around came to an end when all the cachinnation had dumbed down and now all that sounded through the room was their sighs._

" _Awkward sibling hug?" Dipper asked. A tradition that he had no idea how much he missed until this moment right now._

" _Awkward sibling hug" The two cuddled, their arms wrapped around each other._

" _Pat, pat"_

 _They walked down the stairs to the living room, exiting the house, giving their dad and mom a mere 'goodbye'._

 _When Dipper and Mabel had finally reached the school, they were both incredibly but pleasantly surprised._

 _It didn't even look like a school! Well, aside from the fact that there was a giant billboard that said 'Piedmont Elementary School'._

 _They both entered the building and headed towards the gym as that was where the party was being held. Once they reached, the twins both stood completely still in their spots when they encountered the beautiful and bright scenery in front of them._

 _There was music blaring loudly in the background. He could hear faint singing and a tune reminiscent to the song 'Call Me Please, I'm Desperate" by Smharly Shrae Shrepson._

 _Mabel let out a big scream of amazement at the decorations that were settled all around the Gym meanwhile Dipper face-palmed._

 _And he actually thought he would be able to participate in this while looking cool._

 _All that he would be able to imitate perfectly was a fool, not some cool looking fancy guy._

 _The suit he was wearing became his worst enemy when the heat inside of the Gym had hit him._

 _He didn't take it off though. At least the suit made his arms look bigger. Wasn't much of an intimidation though when he considered the fact that other students were literally five times the size of his tiny little ant body._

 _He groaned as his fingers tried to soothe his temples. When he lifted his head up from the insides of his hands, he didn't even have to know that Mabel had gone off with Mary, Jane and Kiwa for some 'girl time'._

 _He sat in a brown chair to his left, frowning as his hands fell onto the sides of his waist._

" _This isn't fun" He whispered, feeling jealous as he saw boys dancing with beautiful girls._

 _Mabel on the other hand was giggling as she danced with her friends._

 _Out of the corner of her eye, she could sense some nasty glares being sent her way but she didn't give one crap about that._

 _She span around, nearly slipping and clashing onto the ground but luckily Mary had prevented that embarrassing event from happening._

 _Her mood dampened when she noticed that Dipper was nowhere to be found._

 _The eyes of Mabel darted around until it landed on a bored looking Dipping Sauce sitting at a table._

 _She smiled as she ran towards him, grabbing his hand._

" _Come on Dip, dance with me!"_

 _Dipper was about to reject the offer but she pulled him up, twirling him around and grabbing him by the waist._

" _Mabel!" He mumbled, clearly embarrassed._

" _Oh right…" She put her hands on his shoulders and he put his on her waist._

 _He was one-hundred reluctant to follow through with this dance…_

 _But he found himself spinning her around, laughing with her and even pretending to be those cheesy romantic couples that were shown in those even more cheesy romantic movies._

 _The sound of happiness coming from his sister's mouth brightened up this party by a million percent. He had been so used to hearing her dejected voice every time he treated her poorly that eliciting a sound of delight from her had made him feel complete._

 _He laughed as she almost lost balance, nearly driving them into a nearby table where some small red-haired kid had fallen asleep._

 _The fun had been interrupted though as Mabel needed to go take a little trip to the bathroom. Drinking loads of punch and then heading out to the dance floor was not a good idea by any circumstances._

 _She finished her 'business' and then washed her hands, preparing to exit the bathroom but the door had opened with a bang, introducing a brunette that had…A scared look on her face._

 _She pulled out a colorful walkie talkie from behind her back and spoke to someone in a hushed whisper._

 _What she said sounded like incoherent nonsense so ignoring the creepy girl, Mabel made her way towards the exit, prepared to dance with Mr. Dippington._

 _However, a pair of arms wrapped around her neck, nearly choking her to death._

" _W-what the glittery fishes!?" She managed to say before the girl's arms once again tightly wrapped around her._

" _Don't choke her too hard! She'll die and we don't want that. We want her to die differently…" Mabel's eyes widened at the voice that spoke out from the walkie talkie, sending chills down her spine._

" _O-okay" The girl's eyes widened as she tried to get a better grip on the girl but Mabel was no one to be taken so easily._

 _She went for a punch to the gut but she moved out of the way just in time and locked her arms behind her, once again nearly choking her by now grasping onto the skin of her neck._

" _Who…W-who are you!?"_

" _Shh! Shut up! My name is Alevia, now come along. Oh man, this is going to be so cool!" Mabel cried as she was dragged out of the bathroom and sneakily taken outside._

 _Her cries were muffled by Alevia's arm and things got worse when she brought her to wall where Ryle, Stultitia and Victus were standing._

" _Hey there 'Maby'" Victus snickered, mocking Dipper's little nickname for her._

 _Alevia pushed Mabel into the brick wall, smashing her right cheek into it._

" _OW!"_

" _Oh my god, this is going to be so freaky but awesome!" Mabel's eyebrows raised at her statement._

 _What was going to be so freaky? What was going to so awesome?_

 _Her eyes widened when her hands were tied together by rope. The fabric burned her skin with how tightly it was wrapped around her hands._

 _Alevia grabbed the rest of the rope, which wasn't that much, and attached it to a nearby steel pole._

 _Mabel looked around frantically, trying to pin point someone who could help her but found nobody._

 _It wasn't that much of a surprise. Barely anyone walked around the streets of Piedmont at night time. But dang it, she needed someone to help her!_

 _Dipper…He was inside the party. What if they tied her here so they could go hurt him?_

 _Her lips shook as she concentrated her optics down on the concrete ground. How the hell had the supervisors or teachers not notice her being taken out from the inside of the school?!_

 _Mabel cried downwards but her head almost abnormally at a fast pace snapped up at the sound of a sharp flick._

 _Her entire body quivered absurdly as she saw a little pocket knife in Ryle's hand._

" _W-what are you doing?" She asked fearfully, knowing the answer. T-they were going to kill her._

 _Victus hissed as he held the knife the wrong way, giving himself a little cut._

" _Ouch!"_

" _Haha, nice job goofball!" Stultitia said sarcastically, punching Victus in the shoulder lightly._

 _Mabel's eyes looked fearfully at the knife. It only increased when grabbed her hand and tried to slit it but a rage-filled voice interrupted it from happening._

" _GET THE HELL AWAY FROM MY SISTER RIGHT NOW!" Mabel gasped as she saw Dipper walking towards them with teary eyes and heavy breaths._

 _Ryle's jaw dropped at how angry his voice sounded. It was almost like he was an actual threat…_

 _But soon a small laugh escaped his mouth as he slowly clapped._

" _Well, well look who came here! This is per-" Before any more words could escape his mouth, Dipper had punched him in the face._

 _Alevia, Stultitia and Victus all watched in horror as a small stream of blood poured out of his mouth._

" _Oh no you didn't! Come here! Let's go guys, kill him instead, forget about the girl!" Stultitia grabbed Dipper's arm, shoving him against the wall._

" _Get off! Right now-Hey, what the heck!" Dipper tried to shove the boy away but his eyes soon widened to large ovals when he noticed his Pine Tree necklace was ripped from his neck._

" _No, don't touch that!" Mabel sobbed as she helplessly watched her brother get beaten up._

" _A necklace? What are you, a girl huh Dipper?" Victus smashed the precious item on the ground and stomped on it before picking it up and throwing it far away._

" _Why-why are you doing this? Please stop!" Mabel desperately called out. Alevia looked at her with an aggressiveness she had not ever seen before._

" _Shut up you stupid brat!" Her hand lifted up and slapped the senses out of Mabel, prompting a new sensation of fury within Dipper's gut._

" _GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF HER!" Dipper slapped Alevia to the shock of everyone._

" _Y-you just hit a girl! What's wrong with you!?" She was ignored as Dipper proceeded to fight back at Stultitia and Victus. He stumbled towards his twin sister who now had a hand print on her right cheek._

" _Come on Mabel, I'll get you out of here sis" He mumbled, sobs coating his voice._

 _Mabel watched in horror as Victus rushed towards him with the knife held in his hand in an attacking position._

" _DIPPER, WATCH OUT!" She shrieked in horror._

" _WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!" The harsh voice of Mr. Diaopulous thickening the tension._

" _C'mon, do it quickly Victus!" Alevia encouraged._

 _After a small panic attack, Victus quickly pushed Dipper against the wall and stabbed him in the gut._

" _Hey! What are you doing, get off of me! GET OFF-AH!"_

" _DIPPER!"_

 _Stultitia, Alevia and Victus picked up Ryle and tried to escape but it was too late…_

" _What in blazes is going-" His voice stopped and the glass of punch in his hand slipped out, crashing on the ground as shards of glass landed in front of his feet._

" _W-what happened?" His eyes fell on Mabel's figure who was tied to a steel pole._

" _Oh my…I-….Oh you little rascals" He whispered in disbelief, eyeing the knife in the hands of Victus._

" _My office...Now"_

" _U-uh sir, we can explain"_

" _I SAID NOW!" By now, everyone had exited the school and was eyeing the lifeless body of Dipper lying on the ground._

 _There were gasps that surrounded the scene while Mabel sat there, not moving at all._

 _The principal untied her yet she still stayed there, completely motionless._

" _T-this isn't real…This is a dream" She said, rocking forward and backwards on her knees, eyeing the body of Dipper._

 _She slowly crawled over to him and heard shaggy breaths escaping his mouth, tears in his eyes._

" _D-Dipper…"_

" _M…..Ma…..Ugh" He closed his eyes, his breathing becoming heavier and heavier and heavier._

" _No. No! DIPPER! SOMEBODY CALL THE AMBULANCE, PLEASE! DIPPER!"_

* * *

 _Mabel sobbed in her hands as Rebecca embraced her with her arms, crying along with her daughter._

 _Marshall sat basically lifeless, showing no emotion other than some blank tears fleeing from his pupils._

" _Mabel…Don't cry, please. He'll be fine. He has to be" Rebecca's attempts to comfort her weren't working whatsoever to the surprise of absolutely no one._

 _Marshall watched in pain as Mabel kept weeping into the arm of her mother._

 _He joined in with Rebecca, trying to make their daughter's pain alleviate but it was all bounded to be a failure from the start._

 _Mabel opened her eyes and took the portrait of her and Dipper out from her mom's purse. She stared at it with a deep sadness in her eyes. Tears fell from her pupils down onto the portraiture of her and her twin brother. People kept telling her that everything would be fine and Dipper would come out with some simple bruises here and there but she didn't believe them. She would have loved to but the way he screamed when the knife entered his gut was…The most painful thing Mabel had ever experienced in her life. What if she never gets to see Dipper again? Is this how he dies? By the hands of a couple of idiotic and dangerous 2_ _nd_ _graders? The moistness in her eyes returned and this time they fell with zero holdbacks. Dipper might die here, right now. He might never ever be able to grow up and live his life._

 _But she would be able to continue living her life. And she was supposed to carry on with the rocks on her back that were Dipper's death being witnessed live by her. How was she going to continue living with the horrible visual of Dipper being stabbed?_

 _She wished she could have done something. She wished she could have punched those stupid kids in the face. Break all their bones and damage their internal organs._

 _But instead she sat there weeping like a little baby while Dipper met the edge of his existence. She kept telling herself that it wasn't her fault. She was tied up, how was she supposed to escape!? But she could have been stronger when she faced that brown haired lunatic in the girl's bathroom. She could have fought back._

 _But no, she let Alevia or whatever her stupid name was whisk her away. And all she could do was cry._

" _The Pines family?" A blonde girl sadly asked, popping out from the hallway._

 _Mabel immediately got up from her seat and tugged at the edge of the girls white coat._

" _Please tell me he's okay! PLEASE!"_

" _Mabel, calm yourself!" Marshall mumbled an apology as he took his daughter in his arms, following the blonde haired girl._

 _They entered a room in which Dipper was located, Mabel running to her twin's side in a matter of two seconds._

" _Dipper! Are you okay! Wake up! Is he okay doctor?!" She kept shaking her brother's figure back and forth, her arms becoming tired from trying to wake him up._

 _Marshall and Rebecca stared at Dipper's body in confusion._

" _No…It can't be" Rebecca muttered when she saw the heartbeat line become straight, no squiggles shown._

" _My name is Dr. Roderick, nice to meet you" The doctor said, holding out his hand for Marshall to shake,_

 _But there was no contact. Instead, Marshall looked at the doctor with dreadful eyes._

" _Is…Is…he okay?" He asked, unfortunately already knowing the answer._

 _A silence passed by, the only sound being Mabel's pleads for Dipper to wake up. She ignored every single word that was escaping Dr. Roderick's mouth but she stopped what she was doing when she heard a heartbreaking sentence that almost sent her into a coma right there at that moment._

" _I'm sorry but…He's gone"_

" _NO! NO, HE CAN'T BE!" Everybody winced at how hoarse Mabel's voice had become._

 _Rebecca cried into her husband's shoulder as Marshall closed his eyes tightly, his hands clenching into tight red fists._

" _NO! DIPPER IS NOT DEAD! RIGHT DIPPER?...R-right?"_

 _She wiped the remainder of her tears and then smiled. "Come on. Wake up bro-bro. This isn't funny, whatever prank you're playing with these people. Wake up"_

 _An idea popped up in her head. A very dumb idea that wouldn't bring Dipper back in any way possible but she didn't care right now. All logic was forgotten as she thought about a fairy tale world where anything is possible. Surely this could bring him back._

" _Well… Who wants a lamby, lamby, lamby?"_

 _Marshall and Rebecca both sat down in nearby chairs, cringing in pain. They were both hurt immensely but seeing their daughter like this was twisting their insides with no remorse._

" _I do! I do!"_

' _Okay Mabel, he's not waking up. It's okay. He will soon…' She thought to herself._

" _So, go up and greet your mammy, mammy, mammy"_

' _Still nothing'_

" _Hi there! Hi there!"_

' _Anytime now Dipper…'_

" _So march, march, march around the daises,_

' _Come one Dipper…W-wake up'_

" _Don't, don't, don't you forget about the ba-by"…_

' _Dipper? Come on! Wake up! Dipper!'_

" _DIPPER STOP THIS ISN'T FUNNY!"_

 _Marshall painfully pulled her away, causing her to unload a pack of punches onto his chest._

" _NO! LEAVE ME ALONE! I WANT TO BE WITH DIPPER! ONLY HIM! Stop! Please…."_

 _She managed to unravel his arms that were around her but simply fell to her knees as tears slid down her cheeks and landed on the white tiled floor._

 _It was too late._

 _It had been late for a while._

 _He was gone._

 _ **He was gone.**_

 _ **UOLDVIH ZIV WBRMT ZMW GSV HFM SZH HGLKKVW HSRMRMT**_

 _ **WRKKVIH WVZGS DZH GIFOB GIZTRX**_

 _ **VEVM GSV XLOWVHG LU XLOW KVLKOV DVIV SVZEROB XIBRMT**_

 _ **YFG R WL DLMWVI, WRW SRH WVZGS SZEV ZMBGSRMT GL WL DRGS WIVZN WVNLM NZTRX? ;)**_

 _ **I'm sorry if this disappointed anyone and I'm especially sorry if my writing seemed a bit lazy but…That took a lot of time to write. I was going to include a lot more details but that would have taken forever. Plus, I don't think Mabel is ready to tell Ford every 'single' thing about the relationship between her and Dipper. This took a lot of my energy to write. It was ten thousand words+! I didn't think this chapter would be that long! Anyways, that was probably in my opinion; the feelsiest chapter yet. Leave your opinions in the reviews which I very much highly appreciate.**_

 _ **Now, I actually do have something to say about Dipper's death; First of all, if you decoded the cipher's, you probably discovered something that will blow your socks away but other than that I'd like to elaborate on when Alevia, Stultitia, Victus and Ryle decided to murder Mabel.**_

 _ **You're probably thinking that's way too dark since those kids are only in 2**_ _ **nd**_ _ **grade…And that's why it works perfectly. Their kids. They don't know much about the world yet. But they do know that murder is absolutely wrong. It's a terrible thing. So why did Ryle and his friends want to do it? It was because, well, they wanted to hurt Dipper by killing his twin sister which would surely put a dent in his heart but also because the idea intrigued them. There are many real life stories where young kids have murdered other kids and even adults because of a movie they saw or the idea just sounded really cool to them. It sounds insane but that type of stuff legitimately happens. So Ryle wasn't one hundred percent sure about what the consequences of his actions would be. Heck, they weren't even sure if Mabel would actually die. They just wanted to stab the girl and see what the reaction would be. Of course, they decided to kill Dipper instead because he had punched Ryle which evoked an anger within Stultitia and Victus along with Alevia. You might be wondering why they decided to switch their decision and kill Dipper. The answer is; they're immature. Because Dipper punched their best friend, they decided to test out the murder on him…Their kid's guys, they're not some top notch criminals who are masterminds. Some could argue that what they did was still far too much for 2**_ _ **nd**_ _ **graders and that's fine. We all have different opinions. But just remember; the real world is a fucked up place.**_

 _ **Also; I hinted at this before but I'll just say it again~ the ciphers are actually quite important and give a clue that may be true….or may be false. Decode it if you're up to the challenge.**_


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